Yeah, I know, this isn't about politics. I just wanted to use that title! I've been watching the TV coverage of the brouhaha at the Praxair plant in St. Louis. It's totally bitchin' watching that shit cook off!
That company repackages and distributes mostly welding gasses. Most welding gasses are inert, and are used to shield the work from oxygen in wire-feed welding, such as MIG and TIG. They don't burn, but they are under intense pressure and when they cook off they disperse the fire in a pattern consistent with the pattern of their own dispersal, which are the fireballs we've been seeing.
Oxygen doesn't burn, but not very much will burn without it. It supports and enhances combustion. That's what makes the BIG fireballs.
Acetylene is very combustible and burns with heavy black carbon smoke. That's the stuff that makes a carbide cannon go BOOM! It also lights the headlight on my motorcycle. I fill the headlight tank with carbide and pee in it when I leave the bar to wobble home. After it builds up a little acetylene pressure, I light it with my cigarette. It only blows the light to smithereens occasionally.
When I first turned the TV on, I thought it was home video of Fixer cuttin' up a little right after the third keg at the company picnic.
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