benn@sphinx.UChicago.UUCP (T Cox) (02/04/86)
[] From 'spontaneous combustion of people' we have gone to 'spon. comb. of hay and compost' [due to anaerobic bacteria] and now to grain-elevator explosions. No connection between the last two. A fine-enough powder of nearly anything will explode. No, maybe not granite, but most METALS, and many other substances, including starches. If it *could* combust, or even oxidize, then in powdered form it can likely explode. Did you know that a cup of gasoline, when turned to vapor [okay, not powder, but same idea] it will explode [read that 'burn real fast'] with the force of several sticks of dynamite. Machining mills that have aluminum dust particles in the air have been known to blow up. Ditto for iron and steel, and of course for magnesium [no surprise there]. I once witnessed a demonstration with wood: a 2 x 4, several match sticks, and some sawdust. Each was in turn put over the same flame. The 2 x 4 sort of darkened. The match sticks caught fire. The sawdust, held in a sort of wire mesh strainer over the flame, went *poof* and literally burst into flames. And that was dust all in a pile, not hanging in the air. Clearly, the people who spontaneously combusted were first finely powdered. Probably by space aliens. No, really. -- T Cox ...ihnp4!gargoyle!sphinx!benn
garyo@masscomp.UUCP (Gary Oberbrunner) (02/07/86)
I saw a good demonstration at the Ontario Science Centre in Toronto of the
explosive power of tiny particles; the demonstrator poured a pile of mustard
seeds (which are almost dust-sized) into his palm and played a lit blowtorch
over them. No effect. ('Course he didn't do it for long...) Then he held
the blowtorch out and threw the pile of dust into the flame, and WHOOOSH!
A large fireball, and plenty of noise. (The demonstrator stood way back while
doing this). Certainly proved the importance of surface area in this kind of
combustion.
By the way, if you're ever in Toronto and you've never been to the OSC, (if
you've been there you know what I mean), DON'T MISS IT! It's probably the
best science & technology museum in the world (even better than the Deutsches
Museum in Germany).
- Gary Oberbrunner
MASSCOMP
...{harvard,allegra}!masscomp!garyokludge@gitpyr.UUCP (Scott Dorsey) (02/10/86)
More interesting than dust explosions are chad explosions... that's
right! My high-school CS teacher once ran a teletype with a papertape
punch for about four days straight, and the chad built up in the machine,
causing what amounted to a grain-elevator-style explosion.
I have known people who have had the same thing happen with card
punches. Probably the thickness of the card chad prevents it from being
quite as bad though.
So what does this tell us? Don't ever leave the teletype running over
a long weekend.
-------
Disclaimer: Everything I say is probably a trademark of someone or another.ron@oscvax.UUCP (Ron Janzen) (02/10/86)
In article <873@masscomp.UUCP> garyo@masscomp.UUCP (Gary Oberbrunner) writes: > >By the way, if you're ever in Toronto and you've never been to the OSC, (if >you've been there you know what I mean), DON'T MISS IT! It's probably the >best science & technology museum in the world (even better than the Deutsches >Museum in Germany). > > > - Gary Oberbrunner > MASSCOMP > ...{harvard,allegra}!masscomp!garyo On behalf of the Science Centre, I would like to thank you for the compliment. It's always nice to know that people enjoy what we do here. I can also show this article to my supervisor to help justify the time I spend on the news :-) -- Ron Janzen Ontario Science Centre, Toronto ...!{allegra,ihnp4,linus,decvax}!utzoo!oscvax!ron
hsu@eneevax.UUCP (Dave Hsu) (02/12/86)
In article <873@masscomp.UUCP> garyo@masscomp.UUCP (Gary Oberbrunner) writes: > >By the way, if you're ever in Toronto and you've never been to the OSC, (if >you've been there you know what I mean), DON'T MISS IT! It's probably the >best science & technology museum in the world (even better than the Deutsches >Museum in Germany). > > > - Gary Oberbrunner Go and visit! Go and visit! BTW, what arcade games do they have this month? :-) -dave -- David Hsu Communication & Signal Processing Lab, EE Department <disclaimer> University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742 hsu@eneevax.umd.edu {seismo,allegra}!umcp-cs!eneevax!hsu "They were the elite, the vanguard of progress. They would take mankind to the heights...and perhaps beyond." -Arthur C. Clarke, Childhood's End