Xref: utzoo sci.chem:514 sci.med:12641 sci.bio:2363 Path: utzoo!attcan!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!wuarchive!gem.mps.ohio-state.edu!apple!vsi1!lmb From: lmb@vicom.com (Larry Blair) Newsgroups: sci.chem,sci.med,sci.bio Subject: Spraycan blowtorches (was Re: Butane death) Message-ID: <1989Sep28.170222.15851@vicom.com> Date: 28 Sep 89 17:02:22 GMT References: <4655@cps3xx.UUCP> <9977@multimax.Encore.COM> <22452@cup.portal.com> <16129@vail.ICO.ISC.COM> <3412@kitty.UUCP>Reply-To: lmb@vicom.COM (Larry Blair) Organization: Vicom Systems Inc., Fremont, CA Lines: 29 In article jk3k+@andrew.cmu.edu (Joe Keane) writes: =Larry Lippman writes: =>In any event, the propellant in a can of Pam is isobutane; scary to be =>intentionally spraying a mixture of ethanol and corn oil propelled by =>isobutane around a stove, huh? How the makers of Pam can afford the =liability =>insurance for their product is a mystery to me. = =Presumably because it's pretty safe. If a dozen people blew themselves =up every year because of this, i'm sure we'd hear about it. Here's my =analysis. If somehow you managed to spray it into an open flame, you'd =have a small blowtorch for a little while. It _might_ explode if you're =stupid enough to keep doing this for a while. Of course throwing it =into a fire is another matter... No way it could explode. All of the combustion is taking place when the atomized mist mixes with the air. To explode, there would have to be an oxidant inside the can. Even in a fire, the explosion would be from the increased internal pressure, not from combustion. The exploding can theory was one that my parents were quite fond of when I used to use spray cans as torches in my demented youth... There are some cans, notably whipped cream, that use nitrous oxide as the propellent. Of course I don't think any company would be stupid enough to, say, use it with an alcohol based product. I wonder what the flash point would be? -- Larry Blair ames!vsi1!lmb lmb@vicom.com