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The stupidest thing I've ever done is try to blow out a gas fire as a kid. There were three of us gathered around a soup can filled with gas as a demonstration of a campfire candle. We all, on the count of three, tried blowing it out. The result was a fireball engulfing our heads. I got the worst of it singeing off all of my facial hair and the hair on my head back to my ears. Important safety note: gas fires cannot be extinguished by blowing them out.




WOW. Sorta reminds me of the time I thought I'd start the wet bon-fire with a gallon of gasoline. I soaked it good and left myself a long trail of gas away from the fire. I'd seen it done in the movies and thought nothing of it. What they don't tell you is that gasoline is not what they are using in the movies. I thought I could just light the trail with my lighter and be the hero of the recently washed out party. Turns out mother nature had other plans. I spark my lighter over the end of the trail to get a flame going, thinking I would light the trail watch the flame follow the gas and ignite the 5 foot pile of wood saturated with 89 octane.
NOPE
The instant my thumb rolled over the flint, the spark popped in the fumes rising from the trail and FWOOM
Instant fireball! There was no fire trail, not watching flames travel and no time to move. I was blasted by the force of the gasoline instantly bursting into a huge ploom of fire that was probably 30 feet high. I didn't see it because I was rolling on the ground 15 feet away. 10 feet from the force the blast pushed me and another 5 feet that I jumped out of my skin, which was a good thing, because my skin was a blue-blaze from my head to my hand still holding the ignition switch! As I rolled away from the blast, half from the explosion, half from my reaction, I quickly smothered the flames on my arm, hopped to my feet into a triumphant dismount position and proudly exclaimed, "FIRE'S LIT!". The dozen or so people watching hesitantly changed from their gasping to laughter and two of my buddies came over and poured their beers on me.
Needless to say, gasoline is only an INTERNAL combustion fuel for me from now on!

Last edited by 1UglyFish; 05/27/04 10:20 AM.