Using a 6P9 to start fires

[PZ]

Back on my PC again... feels good to be home...

I'm experimenting with using the 6P9 to start fires using the flammables.  So far, so good - evidently the mercs don't hear the report of the silenced Makarov.  Here are the results so far: it takes 3 shots to start a small propane tank and 2-4 for an acetylene tank.  I'm not sure why the difference in number of rounds to set the tank off.  This one is from my favorite sniper position looking over the Taemoco Mine

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Next, Weelegol... it takes 5 shots to explode the large propane tank - notice the foolish merc that unsuccessfully tried to brave the spurt of fire.
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[retiredgord]

The cylinder walls on the Acetylene or any gas like that are thicker because of the pressure contained within. Anytime we used a large cylinder we were warned to keep it fixed firmly to something so it wouldn't fall over and possible crack the valve off. I'm thinking it would take 2 shots to weaken and the third to penetrate  and rupture and ignite the gasses.

[PZ]

Sounds like a reasonable "real world characteristic" explanation!   :-X

[Art Blade]

how many of your tanks did you shoot then, retiredgord? Neighbours watching with funny expressions on their faces? ;D ;D ;D

[retiredgord]

Hahah  no.  I had scuba training when younger, propane and other pressurized gases when working.  Maye I should submit this scenario to the Mythbusters and see what they can discover.  Can you imagine them being asked to use a 6P9, .50 cal and maybe one of the assult rifles.  That would be a FC2 required viewing. 

[Art Blade]

great idea... send them a link to this topic, and we herewith ask for a vid docu  ;D

[mir24]

Great test! Reading this post and the replies, I couldn't help thinking of my university days when I had to research about exploding pressurized tanks...

So just thought I'd share this bit of information...

When you shoot at a large propane tank in FC2, it usually doesn't explode but a nozzle of flame bursts out... This could be a sign that the liquid within the tank is heating up and slowly boiling. If left to its own devices, it will ultimately explode, producing what is sometimes called a... *drum roll please*

B.L.E.V.E.

Boiling Liquid Expanding Vapour Explosion (pronounced "bleh-vee").

In my studies, we actually had to do calculations on how much force such an explosion could create AND how much damage. Simply put, if a person were standing even 100 metres away from the tank, forget buying him a coffin.

A matchbox would be enough to fit his carbon traces (once they're swept off the ground).

Pity FC2 doesn't emulate this though. Hehehe.

[JRD]

Great test! Reading this post and the replies, I couldn't help thinking of my university days when I had to research about exploding pressurized tanks...

"How to blow up stuff 101"

I`d take that class for sure...  ;D ;D

What kind of university/course did you go to/take?

[Art Blade]

Hehe, interesting and funny post, mir24  ;D

I was thinking the same as JRD, what kind of studies were those? Supposedly Physics?

[Dweller_Benthos]

Mythbusters have done numerous tests on various pressure tanks by shooting them with different guns. For the most part, pressurized flammables like propane don't explode, the propane just leaks out. I think they even used tracer and incendiary rounds. Well, maybe the incendiary rounds worked, I forget. But, most small handguns just bounce off the average pressure tank, they don't even penetrate.

[Art Blade]

most small handguns just bounce off the average pressure tank, they don't even penetrate.

I believe most big guns and even rifles just bounce off and don't penetrate. Unless you shoot those pressure tanks with them, of course  ;D

[mir24]

Great test! Reading this post and the replies, I couldn't help thinking of my university days when I had to research about exploding pressurized tanks...

"How to blow up stuff 101"

I`d take that class for sure...  ;D ;D

What kind of university/course did you go to/take?

Hehehe, it was the HSE (Health, Safety and Environment) Module for a Chemical Process Engineering degree. The class was split into teams and each team given a random industrial accident on which to do a case study. My team got exploding pressure vessels...

I agree it would've attracted more students if it had been named "How to blow up stuff 101"! Then again, we did have several professors who loved to digress from boring thermodynamics or heat transfers and instead gave tips on building incendiary devices and the effects of explosions and whatnot. Mad men I tell you!  :P

Mythbusters have done numerous tests on various pressure tanks by shooting them with different guns. For the most part, pressurized flammables like propane don't explode, the propane just leaks out. I think they even used tracer and incendiary rounds. Well, maybe the incendiary rounds worked, I forget. But, most small handguns just bounce off the average pressure tank, they don't even penetrate.

Yup, I watched this episode I think. It's the same for LNG (liquified natural gas) tankers. A leak won't blow one up. The danger comes if the gas escapes, mixes with oxygen and THEN is ignited. That's when the explosion occurs.

IIRC, if you shoot a tank, it won't explode... YET. A flame will burn if ignited because the gas is leaking but still won't explode... YET. Within the tank, the burning flame begins to heat up the liquefied contents (gas is usually liquefied for storage). When the contents start to boil, that's when the B.L.E.V.E. occurs...  ::)

[Art Blade]

so we call that little flame our best friend when it comes to delayed explosions... kind of a "natural" fuse, then  ;D

[PZ]

These recent posts remind me of my favorite undergraduate class - physical chemistry (thermodynamics).  (I was foolhardy enough to take it as an elective.) Not that I performed that well (passed with a "C"), but it is the single class in which I learned the most about how to study properly for college-level science courses.  My professor was Stanley Miller, of the Miller/Urey experiments to prove that it is possible to generate organics in a primitive atmosphere.  He was not that great of an instructor, but I appreciated him because he was left-handed - his body never obstructed the chalk board as he wrote  ;D

[Art Blade]

HAHAHA! That's the funniest reason I've ever heard why to like a teacher/prof ;D :-X

[JRD]

Hehehe, it was the HSE (Health, Safety and Environment) Module for a Chemical Process Engineering degree. The class was split into teams and each team given a random industrial accident on which to do a case study. My team got exploding pressure vessels...

Bites me.... I attended a few HSE training and none of them was that fun  :(

Last week we had a Fire training in the office... I thought I would at least use a fire extinguisher (on someone, of course  ;D ), but nah... more PowerPoint Poisoning...  :D

[deadman1]

Hehehe, it was the HSE (Health, Safety and Environment) Module for a Chemical Process Engineering degree. The class was split into teams and each team given a random industrial accident on which to do a case study. My team got exploding pressure vessels...

Bites me.... I attended a few HSE training and none of them was that fun  :(

Last week we had a Fire training in the office... I thought I would at least use a fire extinguisher (on someone, of course  ;D ), but nah... more PowerPoint Poisoning...  :D

I remember the firetraining we recieved at w@&k, it consisted of the fire alarm going off and all of us gathering together in a large crowd across the street. All this would of course take place either during a rainstorm or in the middle of winter, prefereably during a blizzard. >:(

[JRD]

Wow... same here... it should be the protocol!!  >:(

[Art Blade]

Hehe, same here...

[mir24]

Bites me.... I attended a few HSE training and none of them was that fun  :(

Last week we had a Fire training in the office... I thought I would at least use a fire extinguisher (on someone, of course  ;D ), but nah... more PowerPoint Poisoning...  :D

I remember the firetraining we recieved at w@&k, it consisted of the fire alarm going off and all of us gathering together in a large crowd across the street. All this would of course take place either during a rainstorm or in the middle of winter, prefereably during a blizzard. >:(

Hahah, yeah I know what you mean. There was one incident in a Heat Transfer class, we were interrupted by a bell ringing for a split second or so. Then it stopped. Then started again. And stopped. And started. Etc. We were all a bit puzzled until...

A few minutes later, the professor looks up from his lecture notes and suddenly announces "I do believe that's the fire alarm!"

At which point there was a general rush for the door... Hahahahahaha!  ::)

Luckily it was a fire drill but consideting it was in the Engineering faculty where lots of extremely flammable stuff is stored (and worse, USED), a few minutes could mean the difference between 4 bars of life or permadeath (with no buddy to rescue you either).  :-\