From: bill.sloman@ieee.org   
      
   On 22/12/2025 6:37 am, john larkin wrote:   
   > On Sun, 21 Dec 2025 16:58:41 +0000, liz@poppyrecords.invalid.invalid   
   > (Liz Tuddenham) wrote:   
   >   
   >> john larkin  wrote:   
   >>   
   >>> On Sun, 21 Dec 2025 15:40:21 +0000, Jeff Layman    
   >>> wrote:   
   >>>   
   >>>> On 21/12/2025 05:08, Bill Sloman wrote:   
   >>>>   
   >>>>> This is roughly equivalent to insisting that petrol-engined car won't   
   >>>>> catch fire if you shoot a bullet into the petrol tank.   
   >>>>   
   >>>> It won't catch fire. You can search for this yourself:   
   >>>>   
   >>>> bullet gasoline tank fire   
   >>>>   
   >>>> It's a myth, mainly as a result of many Hollywood movies showing cars   
   >>>> exploding from a single bullet to the tank. Even multiple bullets fired   
   >>>> into a tank won't cause the fuel to ignite. You need an incendiary   
   >>>> bullet, and even then you might require more than one.   
   >>>   
   >>> We (the good guys) got a great advantage in WWII, with planes that had   
   >>> self-sealing gas tanks.   
   >>   
   >> I think you will find the Germans had them before WWII broke out but we   
   >> didn't develop them until later.  Apparently the UK research was bogged   
   >> down by mission drift or 'specification-runaway'.   
   >   
   > Old cars had gas gauges that used a float and a wirewould pot, inside   
   > the tank. It didn't blow up because the mix in the tank wasn't   
   > flammable.   
      
   Wrong. The mix of air and gasoline vapour inside the gas tank can be   
   flammable. The wires inside a wirewound pot never got hot enough to   
   ignite the mix. If you every been exposed to "intrinsically safe"   
   electronic design you'd be aware of this.   
      
   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intrinsic_safety   
      
   It takes a certain amount of energy to get a gaseous pocket of fuel air   
   mix hot enough to initiate combustion, and intrinsically safe design   
   makes sure that that much energy isn't ever available.   
      
   --   
   Bill Sloman, Sydney   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)