Fire Destroys Southampton Fibre-Optics Center

Sam Haine '95 writes "BBC News reports that a fire has burnt down a CS facility at the University of Southampton. It's notable because the facility was one of the best in the world." From the article: "Some of the most advanced research work in the country, and indeed the world was carried out in this facility ... We probably will have to start from scratch, and it will take a couple of years to rebuild the facility"

Comments

Re:Mhmm and??

[deglr6328]

Holy crap people, how many "OMG didn't you like totally know that pressure and temperature are directly related in gasses and that LN2 can like BOIL an' junk!!? Like wow ur so 14m3!".

DUH!! Wow, congrats to you, you remembered something from high school chemistry. Why do I picture you patting yourself on the back right now? The point is that an exploding container of liquid nitrogen will NOT create a fire! Which is what the the BBC article implies.

Re:It's the pressure.

[deglr6328]

I guess that's what I get for overestimating the level of the room. The reason I did not spell things out explicitly is because I figured the common fact that gas=more volume than liquid and hence boiling liquid in container = boom is so blindingly obvious that it didn't need even mentioning. My objection to the BBC article that I was making a joke about lies in the fact that they seem to suggest the fire was CAUSED by an LN2 tank explosion, which is extraordinarily unlikely for obvious reasons.