# Balloon Filled With Acetylene



## markdi (Feb 7, 2006)

check out the picture


http://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/6790966/detail.html


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## magic79 (Feb 7, 2006)

Now THAT is excessive force!!


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## Trashman (Feb 7, 2006)

Dem boys is nuts!


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## Lightmeup (Feb 7, 2006)

Acetylene is heavier than air so it will just 'sit' in a cup or bucket. The welders where I used to work would put some in these 'butt' cans (coffee cans with an inch of sand in the bottom that were used as big ashtrays) and wait for some unsuspecting soul to flip a lit cigarette into the can. Then "BOOM!" It seemed funny at the time.


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## savumaki (Feb 7, 2006)

COULD NOT have happened to nicer people. Should be the goal of all the worlds suicide bombers.


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## yuandrew (Feb 7, 2006)

You would normally do that with Propane. I've done it a while back before they required OPD valves on BBQ tanks. My science teacher also showed us the same thing but he used natural gas and hydrogen (both are lighter than air).

Usually, the idea is to put gas in the balloon, tie it off, and then use a long stick with a match at the end to "pop" the balloon which would also ignite the gas.

Acetylene is way too volital for that trick though. I've seen pictures of a truck where the same thing happened. The whole roof was sheared back like a can of sardiens.

However, the craziest thing I heard of was from my friend after he had been camping out in the desert. A group camping about a mile away from him had a huge bonfire and they had placed BBQ sized propane tanks into the fire. Even from that distance; the explosions were strong enough to be felt where he was camping


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## Warhead (Feb 7, 2006)

Oh dear. Propane is a liquid in the tank, and it would have time to boil before the tank ruptured…..then you have a B.L.E.V.E. on your hands Boiling liquid expanding vapor explosion. Not to mention the tank. I hope those people were at the other campsite when it went off.

We put a can of *Tolulene* in a campfire and let it boil once…the blast put the fire out and broke the side window of a car more than 75 feet away. (No object ever found it was the pressure) Later found out that’s the last letter in TNT. Oh I’m lucky I ever made it to 20. 


I have heard that Acetylene can self ignite if the bottle valve breaks and it escapes without any resistance. I guess because its so dense. So I've heard... 




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## CLHC (Feb 7, 2006)

When I was in high school, the shop welding instructor performed this as a lesson for us teenagers to take very seriously what we're dealing with. He was also emphasizing the importance of proper ventilation. The building "rocked" when he "lit" the acetylene filled balloon. . .


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## asdalton (Feb 7, 2006)

Acetylene is bad, bad stuff. Unlike natural gas (methane) or LPG (propane), just about any mixture of acetylene and air can be detonated.


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## ABTOMAT (Feb 7, 2006)

Acetylene also has another mode of blowing up. Deflagration (sp?). If it gets warm enough with the right pressure it will basically break down at the molecular level and detonate. No actual combustion. That's why acetylene welding cylinders are filled with acetone in a metal "sponge." When the gas is dissolved into acetone it's stable. But as a gas it gets unstable over 14 or so PSI. Put it in a ballon and you're asking for trouble.

But it's not too dangerous if stored properly. I have a B-size cylinder in the basement I've been using for years with a Prestolite torch.

Those bomb charges sound like BS to me. I mean, any welder having a birthday party could be changed with possesion of the materials. The balloon guy was dumb, really dumb, but not criminal.


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## PlayboyJoeShmoe (Feb 7, 2006)

CHC said:


> When I was in high school, the shop welding instructor performed this as a lesson for us teenagers to take very seriously what we're dealing with. He was also emphasizing the importance of proper ventilation. The building "rocked" when he "lit" the acetylene filled balloon. . .



Me too. It was a lesson about check valves on tanks.

When it went off, SEVERAL other teachers came to see if we lived!


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## PhotonWrangler (Feb 7, 2006)

What a boneheaded move. He's lucky to be alive. Hopefully he's learned an important lesson about static electricity and combustion!


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## PlayboyJoeShmoe (Feb 7, 2006)

JEEZE! I just clicked the link!

Darwin missed one! But the state didn't....


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## Flying Turtle (Feb 7, 2006)

Back in college we would occasionally "manufacture" small hydrogen balloons in the dorm room. Then attach a rubber band fuse, light it, and let it float to the ceiling of the hallway outside the room. Made a great flash and bang, but no damage and only tiny pieces of balloon on the floor. Of course, we'd only do it about midnight.

Geoff


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## turbodog (Feb 7, 2006)

Each year plenty of people who think they are smart get injured of killed with acetylene.

Static and it are a no-no.

Also, it will corrode certain types of brass fittings. Acetylene fittings and valves have to be a special mix of brass.


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## tvodrd (Feb 8, 2006)

Somehow, ( :shakehead: ) I survived being young and stupid. We have done oxy-acetylene-filled trashbags at abt 85 yards.  We ran a roll of 1/4" pneumatic tubing up the hill along with a twisted pair to a broken flashbulb inside the bag. Light the torch and snuff it out in the sand and connect the tip to the tubing. They took forever to fill, and in those days, we didn't have lights good enough to monitor the filling progress. It took a brave soul to walk up the hill periodically with a Minigag to monitor the progress.  

When the time came, the concussion would slap you in the chest! (I hope the statuate of limitations has expired!  )

Oh, to be young and stupid again!

Larry


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## asdalton (Feb 8, 2006)

My great-grandfather lost an eye when he was a teenager, because he put a blasting cap on the stove to see what would happen. That's perhaps some comforting evidence that people today aren't getting any stupider.


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## turbodog (Feb 8, 2006)

Don't count on it.

I had almost forgotten a little "fun" with blasting caps we had one night with my college neighbor who had a girl in his room at night, which was a huge violation (in more ways than one we learned).





asdalton said:


> My great-grandfather lost an eye when he was a teenager, because he put a blasting cap on the stove to see what would happen. That's perhaps some comforting evidence that people today aren't getting any stupider.


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## markdi (Feb 8, 2006)

so what would it take in m-80's

dynomite

tri nitro toulene 
c4 


to do the same amount of damage to a car like that ?


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## James S (Feb 8, 2006)

I was also witness to this same thing in a chemistry class... even though it was a very small balloon still took out a row of florescent tubes 

This article was most certainly was NOT a bomb in the traditional sense. And since nobody was hurt by their stupidity it needs to be treated as stupidity and not as an attempt to build a bomb. We'll see what the judge thinks I guess.

I suppose that we will have to register for welding supplies if enough people keep doing this crap.


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## yuandrew (Feb 8, 2006)

Truck

http://www.lampton.com/safety.htm

Well, in this day and age; pretty much anything that can go "boom" would get a person in trouble.


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## leukos (Feb 8, 2006)

I suppose there's business opportunities for delivering those type of balloons to office parties...


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## wwglen (Feb 8, 2006)

Stupid --- Yes

Charge him -- Not only no butt HeII no.

wwglen


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## James S (Feb 8, 2006)

OK, so re reading the article, they were blowing them up safely somewhere far away and accidently blew up their car and injured themselves.

It's everybody's right to kill themselves, and as long as they weren't delivering them to office buildings I dont have a problem with them doing it at all. 

The only charge that might be appropriate in my book might be insurance fraud depending on what they told their insurance company happened to the car 

Course, much worse things could have happened. Could have blown up while they were driving, could have killed them instead of just blowing out eardrums and some cuts from flying glass. But it didn't.

I still dream of blowing up stuff out on the back 40 myself  I do not want any laws that would stop me from doing that!


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## Ken_McE (Feb 8, 2006)

markdi said:


> so what would it take in ...dynomite to do the same amount of damage to a car like that ?



One stick of dynamite would have killed both of them, and anybody in cars near them, and the upper part of the car would be all opened out like the petals of a flower.


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## tvodrd (Feb 8, 2006)

In CA, dumping dry ice clumps into a 2L plastic Pepsi bottle is a felony! (Retiring somewhere else in a few years, I hope!)

Larry


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## Vee3 (Feb 8, 2006)

tvodrd said:


> In CA, dumping dry ice clumps into a 2L plastic Pepsi bottle is a felony! (Retiring somewhere else in a few years, I hope!)
> 
> Larry




Wow, really? I'm glad I only use 1L plastic COKE bottles then!


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## offroadcmpr (Feb 9, 2006)

tvodrd said:


> In CA, dumping dry ice clumps into a 2L plastic Pepsi bottle is a felony! (Retiring somewhere else in a few years, I hope!)
> 
> Larry



whoops


It is actually really cool if you set off a dry ice bomb underwater! Try it some time, but not in a pool, my friends pool now has a leak from doing that several times!


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## 3rd_shift (Feb 9, 2006)

When i took shop class in high school;

My shop teacher got a 10 ounce foam coffee cup.
Made a hole in the bottom of it with a pencil.
Got the acetylene torch.
Lit it.
Put it on the table nozzle down to "pop" it out with gasses still running to it.
Put torch nozzle into the pencil hole of the 10 ounce foam cup for a few seconds.
Lifted the torch back out and relit it.
Pointed the lit torch at the gas filled foam cup and..............

*"*BOOM* !"* 
I mean, our ears were ringing for almost an hour after that. :wow:


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## DarkLight (Feb 10, 2006)

We used to fill a 4 ft length of xtra heavy pipe with oxy acetyl mix on the 4th of july..

Nothing in the tube of course but gas......capped on one end with a hole drilled to touch it off .....

The funniest part was getting someone who had never "heard/felt/seen) it touched off before..


 It was like old WWII movies. a few seconds later the report echoed back from neigbhorhood......

Most people would NOT light it again ever.....:hehe


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## Lightmeup (Feb 10, 2006)

Considering the damage that was done to the car, I am surprised that the passengers were able to walk away and go home without medical attention. Does anyone else find this odd also?

LMU


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## PhotonWrangler (Feb 10, 2006)

> Deputies called in an ambulance, who took the couple to Swedish Medical Center for possible shrapnel wounds and broken eardrums.



I can believe the shrapnel wounds and blown eardrums, but it does seem like they would've sustained much more severe injuries considering that their tissue and bones are softer than the car's roof and doors!


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## James S (Feb 11, 2006)

I dont think they were in the car when it went off. I might be confusing multiple articles now about this since everyone is linking all over the place. But they had parked and were blowing them up one at a time by shooting roman candles at them, when one of them reached into the car for another one, it blew up.

Or at least that is what I gathered from reading more articles about this, but like I said I might be confusing other similar episodes.

If thats what really happened, I'd love to read the insurance claim


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## Screehopper (Feb 13, 2006)

There's a story where a guy (delivery guy for oxygen, acetylene, etc tanks) fills up a flat tire with oxygen to get him to a tire shop. 

As the tire technician was popping the tire off the rim it explodes.

I guess the delivery guy doesn't pay attention to the safety rules reguarding oxygen.


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## markdi (Feb 13, 2006)

would filling a car tire with pure oxygen make it explode ?

I do not think so - no fuel.


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## Planterz (Feb 13, 2006)

I feel compelled to tell a story from my High School.

Every year in Chemestry class, they do the "Sodium Demonstration". Sodium comes in these blocks, and you take pieces of the block and put it in water. A little bit will sputter and spark with flames. A lot will explode.

The Chemestry teacher, a self-admitted pyro (any good chem teacher is a pyro at heart), started the demonstration with small bits of sodium in a bucket of water. A little bit of sodium in water isn't really that interesting. It kinda sputters around, throwing red bits of flame around. So the class said "put in a bigger chunk!". The teacher put in bigger chunks, with much more impressive sputtering and flames. Finally, a big enough chunk was tossed into the bucket to cause an explosion, one that blew all the water out of the bucket, and dislodged one of the ceiling tiles. Needless to say, the class loved it. Then someone said "throw the whole brick in!".

So they filled a garbage can (the big rubbermaid kind) with water, took it outside where there's a large field, and enlisted the help of a classmemember, who was on the football team, who from a "safe" distance, threw the big ol' chunk of sodium into the garbage can.

For several seconds, nothing happened. Then finally, the sodium reacted with the water. The resulting explosion rattled windows blocks away, and incited several bomb reports to 911. It was later found that only _half_ the chunk of sodium exploded, after the other half was found nearby with grass imbedded in it.

Since then, all sodium demonstrations have been done inside vented, polycarbonate safety chambers.


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## Screehopper (Feb 13, 2006)

markdi said:


> would filling a car tire with pure oxygen make it explode ?
> 
> I do not think so - no fuel.



Pure oxygen is highly dangerous when not properly handled.

Another example story involving oxygen that lead to an explosion and death of a worker:
http://www.msha.gov/alerts/scba-02.htm


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## BB (Feb 13, 2006)

markdi said:


> would filling a car tire with pure oxygen make it explode ?
> 
> I do not think so - no fuel.



Actually, remember Space Ship One? The rocket motor is an Oxidizer and "Rubber".

Hybrid Rocket Motor:



> The hybrid motor uses nitrous oxide (N2O or laughing gas) as an oxidizer and hydroxy-terminated polybutadiene (HTPB or rubber) as the fuel. Both of these can be safely stored without special precautions and will not react when put together.



I don't know if Oxygen in a tire itself is enough to "cause a problem"... 

But, if you have an almost flat tire with pure O2 inside, heat (from excessive side wall flexing at low air pressure), rubber dust from internal scuffing (powdered fuel + static electricity possibilities), and lastly, a mechanic with steel rims and tools causing a possible spark--you certainly have enough components to make somebody very nervous.

I have seen a boat trailer tire on-fire (towed flat until tire caught fire) decades ago. The owners had exhausted about 2-3 fire extinguishers from their boat and were unable to put out the fire--it kept re-igniting because of the very hot metal rim. My father had a 2 gallon water jug (family vacation) and was able to put out the fire very easily.

I would not play with rubber, heat and oxygen in a closed room.

-Bill


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## ScottyJ (Feb 14, 2006)

My cousin used to make those "ballon" bombs all of the time. He would set them off and they would go boom, but they did not seem that powerful. All the ones I saw him do sure did not seem like they could have done that to a car.


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## James S (Feb 14, 2006)

unless someone had just previously used one of those cans of "fix-a-flat" type stuff which are basically propane or butane or something  Then there would be plenty of fuel.

However, I just dont see a situation where you'd have access to pressurized O2 and not to anything else with which to fill your tire... Unless... you were a hospital gas delivery truck or something


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## kts (Nov 25, 2011)

And the man is facing 2-6 years in jail for his little prank that went wrong, in my country you would get a 100$ fine, how is it going in the land of the free???

EDIT:

Man..This must be the worst necromancing ever, I didnt see it was an ancient thread, this related thread crap is really a bad idea.


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## bansuri (Nov 25, 2011)

Ah, who cares if it's old. After reading through the posts it's clear that there are quite a few people who barely escaped prison time, myself included. Always loved playing with stuff that went "boom" when I was young.
In the years since the last post in '06 things have even gotten worse here, probably would've been charged under Patriot Act, Homeland security would be involved and the Ministry of Truth would have something to say.
Not so good here, kts.


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## Quest4fire (Dec 6, 2011)

> And the man is facing 2-6 years in jail for his little prank that went wrong, in my country you would get a 100$ fine, how is it going in the land of the free???



You gotta remember it's *Colorado*! A state with very liberal viewpoints. Texas would probably be a better option if you enjoy fun-loving activities like blowing things up!



> In the years since the last post in '06 things have even gotten worse here, probably would've been charged under Patriot Act, Homeland security would be involved and the Ministry of Truth would have something to say.



I hear you bansuri, every year our govt. seems to get more and more power to mess with it's citizens. Where will it end?


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## Empath (Dec 6, 2011)

Wrong tangent for this board. Thread closed.


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