Can Cell Phones Ignite Gasoline Vapors?

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?"

Comments

Re:Mythbusters TV Show

[makomk]

Here in the UK, the program "Brainiac" tried to get petrol vapour to explode using a mobile phone. They put loads of open-topped containers of petrol in a caravan together with mobile phones and rang them. Nothing happened.

They did manage to get a very nice explosion by leading a wire to the cravan and getting soomeone wearing nylon clothes and standing on a bucket to touch the other end, though.

PS. They really liked blowing up caravans...

Re:Urban Myth!

[Mick Ohrberg]

The article states its the build-up of static rather than the phone itself sparking the fires.

Getting in and out of your car is much more likely to cause a spark, precisely due to static electricity. Especially in dry climate and cold days (when people are more likely to leave their engines running as well as get back in the varmth of their car during fueling). And yes, it has been shown that women are more likely to get back in their car during fueling.