Does liquid gasoline burn?
Fleet Owner
Joined: Sep 2005
Posts: 28,609
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From: Lake Tahoe, Nevada
Originally Posted by alchymist
Gasoline, or it's derivative compounds, mixed with another ingredient, will burn quite well....It's called...NAPALM.
Your're right Alchymist, the process is the same, except that they use an explosive instead of a carburator and spark plugs. The napalm is expanded and heated by the explosive to vaporization so it is mixed with oxygen and the the explosive also provides the ignition.
Fleet Owner
Joined: Sep 2005
Posts: 28,609
Likes: 18
From: Lake Tahoe, Nevada
Originally Posted by Neb86
Thanks Bdox. It seems that more than a few folks don't understand the difference and that's why I thought it would be useful to bring it up. I just regret putting that article in there so soon after starting the thread. I should have let the thread take it's course so more people would participate and thus a little more correct information would be made available.
And yes, the vapor lock statement stood out like a sore thumb to me as well but, given the climate of that thread, I decided to let it go.
Vapor lock might be a good subject for a new thread?
And yes, the vapor lock statement stood out like a sore thumb to me as well but, given the climate of that thread, I decided to let it go.
Vapor lock might be a good subject for a new thread?
Junior User
Joined: Dec 2005
Posts: 60
Likes: 0
From: Scottsdale, AZ
I can related this much from my early teenage experience: if you fill a paint can with gasoline and then kick it over so that the gasoline spills across the road and then light a match to the gasoline, what ignites is the vapor ABOVE the liquid. Liquid gasoline will remain on the street for several minutes with the fire flaming above it.
Elder User
Joined: Jan 2004
Posts: 925
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From: northwest,sc
Guess I am gonna show more of my ignorance.
When I was about 7 I heard that a lit match would be extingushed if it was placed in liquid gasoline.
I got a small wax coverd paper cup and filled it half full of gasoline, I lit a match but before the match got to the gas the vapors cought fire.
I was on the back porch, and walked off the porch and sat the cup down on the ground, watching the cup melt to the level of the gas.
A moment I will never forget and NEVER repeat.
I remember shaking all over and the thought that I almost burned the house down still lives in my memory today.
This happened about 1952.
When I was about 7 I heard that a lit match would be extingushed if it was placed in liquid gasoline.
I got a small wax coverd paper cup and filled it half full of gasoline, I lit a match but before the match got to the gas the vapors cought fire.
I was on the back porch, and walked off the porch and sat the cup down on the ground, watching the cup melt to the level of the gas.
A moment I will never forget and NEVER repeat.
I remember shaking all over and the thought that I almost burned the house down still lives in my memory today.
This happened about 1952.
Elder User
Joined: Jul 2005
Posts: 969
Likes: 1
From: North Texas
In a personal experiment, in the middle of a concrete driveway, I found that you can actually see an air gap above "burning" gasoline. The gasoline itself did not burn, nor did the vapors immediately above it. Why? Not enough oxygen.
Other thoughts:
If gasoline itself burned you wouldn't have to have a 13:1 or higher air fuel ratio for power. Heck, you wouldn't need air at all if gas burned.
NOS works so well because it is injectable oxygen.
The definition of burning is rapid oxidation.
Other thoughts:
If gasoline itself burned you wouldn't have to have a 13:1 or higher air fuel ratio for power. Heck, you wouldn't need air at all if gas burned.
NOS works so well because it is injectable oxygen.
The definition of burning is rapid oxidation.
Post Fiend
Joined: Mar 2002
Posts: 19,402
Likes: 38
From: Bonita Springs FL
ANYTHING will burn if given enough heat and oxygen. Even steel and concrete. It just takes SO much energy to burn them that we don't consider them flammable.
It's impossible for anything to burn without the presence of oxygen. So liquid anything won't burn unless you figure out a way to mix it with oxygen.
It's impossible for anything to burn without the presence of oxygen. So liquid anything won't burn unless you figure out a way to mix it with oxygen.
Senior User
Joined: Sep 2005
Posts: 171
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From: Southeast Ky.
I work in a grocery store with a gas station. I noticed a young man gassing his pickup while slmoking a cigarette and asked him to put out the cigarette. He did, but then told me 'you can drop a cigarette in gas and it won't ignite'. I told him I didn't know if that were true, but that I knew the fumes could be easily ingited by his cigarette and that could have killed us all. It's absolutely amazing to me how people can be that stupid.
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Senior User
Joined: May 2003
Posts: 455
Likes: 0
From: Alaska
Just to complicate things a bit, a cigarette by itself will not ignite the gasoline, gasoline requires a spark or flame to acheive ignition, a cigarette in its normal state has neither, that is why a diesel engine won't run on gas, no spark, the heat of the compressed air will not light the fuel, if you put gas in a diesel, it will just stop running.
also, gasoline will not ignite if the air/fuel ratio is too lean or too rich.
thus, to answer the question, no, liquid gasoline does not burn.
Of course, if you go to extremes, all bets are off.
also, gasoline will not ignite if the air/fuel ratio is too lean or too rich.
thus, to answer the question, no, liquid gasoline does not burn.
Of course, if you go to extremes, all bets are off.
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