GAS THIEVES

[bluzjamer]

Gee, I use that high level lead paintball...can I use that? Should leave a findable blood trail!
Oh, the reason they didn't drill out tanks in the 70's was.......no cordless tools.
Just the astronuats had them! I guess it was in case they had to drill the Soyez Space Station for a little high octane stuff!!!

[CAL]

Lit cigarette won't ignite gasoline. Doesn't burn hot enough.

Mythbusters

[Backbeach Jake]

We were told the vapor thing at our safety meeting at work. He also said don't try it, if there's vapor settled above the gas, there's gonna be a problem. Well, when I tried it there wasn't any vapor above the gas, I guess.

[Nebe]

here's a prime example of gasoline not being flammable..a flooded engine. under normal conditions a fine mist is forced into the cylinders..pop. But, if you put too much in........ Nada.

[wheresmy50]

Nebe,

That isn't because gasoline isn't flammable, that's because it has exceeded it's upper explosive limit, meaning it's too rich to ignite.

I don't know who started the myth that liquid gasoline isn't flammable, but they're dead wrong. I think it probably came from people who don't really understand how solvents burn. With solvents, there are two numbers, the flash point which is the temperature the solvent needs to exceed to ignite, and the autoignition temperature when it spontaneously ignites. I just looked it up and for gasoline the flash point is -50 F and the autoignition is 500 F. So as long as it's above minus 50, it will ignite. Another way to say it would be that above minus 50, the vapor pressure of the liquid is high enough to create a flammable fuel air mixture above the liquid, which is probably where the confusion came from.

My guess is that a cigarette either isn't hot enough or the ash slows the transfer of energy to the gasoline. Either way it's not a good idea to throw cigarettes in gasoline.