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Can Cell Phones Ignite Gasoline Vapors?

Posted by timothy on from the place-your-bets-from-across-the-street dept.

Iphtashu Fitz writes "Matthew Erhorn was filling his car with gasoline outside of New Paltz, NY when when he flipped open his cell phone to answer a call. The next thing he knew he was engulfed by a ball of fire. Luckily for Erhorn a quick thinking employee hit the emergency fire suppression system and he ended up with only minor burns. Firefighters investigating the accident concluded that the cell phone triggered the fire. Experts at The Petroluum Equipment Institute disagree however, attributing the fire to static electricity. Since 1992 the PEI has documented 158 cases of gas pump fires believed to have been started by static electricity. Apparently cell phone signals are too weak to ignite gasoline vapors, but the human body can generate enough static electiricy (60,000 volts) from simply sliding out of your car seat to do just that. Do you pay attention to all those signs at the gas pump telling you to to make sure your car, cell phone, PDA, pacemaker, etc. are all turned off before you start pumping?"

8 of 685 comments (clear)

  1. Well, our farts aren't exploding... by SYFer · · Score: 4, Funny

    They're flammable and they originate mere inches from our cell phones.

    --
    "...all the labours of the ages, all the devotion, all the inspiration, all the noonday brightness..." yada yada
    1. Re:Well, our farts aren't exploding... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny


      if your cellphone is only inches from your farts i would suggest you are holding it wrong

    2. Re:Well, our farts aren't exploding... by fmaxwell · · Score: 5, Funny

      They're flammable and they originate mere inches from our cell phones.

      There you go talking out of your ass again.

    3. Re:Well, our farts aren't exploding... by horza · · Score: 4, Funny

      They're flammable and they originate mere inches from our cell phones.

      You must be from Europe. I hear that in the USA the distance tends to be that little bit further.

      Phillip.

      --
      Property for sale in Nice, France
  2. Pacemaker? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny
    all those signs at the gas pump telling you to to make sure your car, cell phone, PDA, pacemaker, etc.

    Turn off you PACEMAKER? What?
  3. Re:i don't want to be a fireball by danormsby · · Score: 4, Funny
    Just do as advised... "make sure your car, cell phone, PDA, pacemaker, etc. are all turned off before you start pumping"

    Make sure your pacemaker is switched off on your next visit.

    --
    Omnis amans amens
  4. Re:i don't want to be a fireball by rodney+dill · · Score: 4, Funny

    Too late, you are already flamebait

    --

    Use your head, can't you, use your head,
    You're on earth, there's no cure for that     - S. Beckett
  5. Re:Urban Myth! by Dmala · · Score: 5, Funny

    I don't think it's a doppler issue.

    It's definitely not a doppler issue. Drivers on the Massachusetts Turnpike routinely use their cellphones at speeds in excess of 100mph, often while reading the paper or putting on makeup.