Karen

I have a ? for your DH...a theoretical question...because he is smarter than me and all that...

Anyway, can lightening ignite oil? I was thinking about this, since a hurricane in the Gulf is iminent, and highly likely. There is gazillions of barrels of oil( raw crude) floating around out there, which could feasibly be picked up by a current, and then a storm comes, with lightening, and WHAMO, a huge 300 mile wide firestorm....so is this plausible or do I need to get a life? I think of odd things while cleaning the oven.....

someone on Yahoo Answers was wondering the same thing
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20100601060130AAweheX

I am thinking it isn't plausible, simply because it is so diluted , and it oxidizes.
I talked to a friend who worksone of the "burn boats" and he said they are having to use Diesel to light it.


In the meantime, Bayley has a bucket with some motor oil, and a flint thingy...trying to make lightening.

You cant ignite deisel like you can gas.

If you take a bucket of diesel, and a bucket of gas, and throw a lit match or lit cigerette in both, the cigerette will go out in the deisel. It needs an accelerator.

oh and incase your wondering, if you are smoking on the pot, and throw your cigerette in, you wont light yourself on fire. mythbusters tried it ;-) LOL

OH, BUT, those oil tanks? they make gas too, you know when they pull the oil out of the ground? well some of them are REALLY gassy. and one of the guys BR works with wasnt paying attention, and didnt take off his gloves, he opened one, had static electricity on him, and a flame whooshed out, burned the hair smooth off his face.

He was 2 flights up on a set of narrow metal stairs. called a catwalk.

Lighting DOES hit the oil tanks on those locations. Had one not too long ago get hit and it exploded. melted the fiberglass. and the metal stairs. LOL

But its mostly condesate, which is what they call the oil that is sitting on water.

Lightening may not ignite oil, but something else might explode. Here are some videos that have me concerned:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pZCvMQhbH-8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xMEr4FctWAM

Lightening ignite oil tanks here sometimes....not often but it happens.....thats what had me thinking.

Haha.. I am SO glad I am not the only one who thinks of random things now and then.

What a great question... However, Im also thinking wouldn't that be a GOOD thing? The fire could feasibly burn itself out AFTER burning off all the spilled oil?

Scott says:

"Short answer: Yes! But not likely at all.

Lightning ignites things because it's hot. It's about 8,000 degrees, which is hotter than the surface of the sun. So if/when it struck the oil, it would transfer that heat to the oil and the oil could ignite. But the oil is spread out pretty thinly over deep water. A lot of that heat would go into the water and cool the oil down. Plus there's wave action and wind which would disrupt the layer of air where the mixture of fuel and air is correct for burning. (Remember that in your car, fuel is ignited when it mixes with air and a spark.) Not to mention that during a storm there's all that rain to help cool and disrupt the area. IF the oil, or the air just above it did ignite, waves and wind would probably put the fire out.

But I still wouldn't want to be on a ship in the gulf during a storm."

Tell him thanks, and would he like to tutor my kid? They could light things on fire together, and drop things off the roof, and blow shit up....which is her current interest.

LOL! He probably would love it. Too bad we don't live closer.

MINE TOO!!!

hmmm, interesting topic and comments... have enjoyd this thread.