# Attention, directors: Cars do not explode when they crash **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 11, 2019, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attention-directors-cars-do-not-explode-when-they-crash/840025 "2019-09-11T03:56:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![SamuelA](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c77e96/32.png) [@SamuelA](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SamuelA)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2019, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attention-directors-cars-do-not-explode-when-they-crash/840025/41 "2019-09-14T17:02:04Z")
You know what _does_ explode quite nicely when it crashes? Rocket boosters that fail their landing attempts. Apparently, in hollywood every car is actually built like a rocket booster. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2019, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attention-directors-cars-do-not-explode-when-they-crash/840025/42 "2019-09-14T18:56:32Z")
Nothing explodes like it does in Hollywood. War is very disappointing in that way. ---
**Author:** ![SamuelA](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c77e96/32.png) [@SamuelA](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SamuelA)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2019, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attention-directors-cars-do-not-explode-when-they-crash/840025/43 "2019-09-14T19:29:09Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > Nothing explodes like it does in Hollywood. War is very disappointing in that way. Check the video in the post above. Rocket boosters explode at least as well as Hollywood would portray it. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2019, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attention-directors-cars-do-not-explode-when-they-crash/840025/44 "2019-09-14T20:06:13Z")
> [@SamuelA](#): > > Check the video in the post above. Rocket boosters explode at least as well as Hollywood would portray it. Yes that’s fuel. You need fuel to make a fireball. A hand grenade makes a bang and a small puff of smoke. A pound of C4 makes a disappointingly small boom. Hollywood explosions all include a large amount of fuel to make an impressive fireball. ---
**Author:** ![jz78817](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jz78817/32/1028_2.png) [@jz78817](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jz78817)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2019, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attention-directors-cars-do-not-explode-when-they-crash/840025/45 "2019-09-14T21:27:03Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > Except in Last Action Hero. > > And Falfa’s 55 Chevy was NOT a jalopy! speaking of Last Action Hero, apparently cars explode [simply from driving past them.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o5tYgRTbP80&t=1m54s) (criminally underrated movie) ---
**Author:** ![jz78817](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jz78817/32/1028_2.png) [@jz78817](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jz78817)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2019, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attention-directors-cars-do-not-explode-when-they-crash/840025/46 "2019-09-14T21:32:46Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > Yes that’s fuel. You need fuel to make a fireball. A hand grenade makes a bang and a small puff of smoke. A pound of C4 makes a disappointingly small boom. Hollywood explosions all include a large amount of fuel to make an impressive fireball. not only fuel, but a slug of concentrated oxygen to go with it. ---
**Author:** ![SamuelA](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c77e96/32.png) [@SamuelA](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SamuelA)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2019, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attention-directors-cars-do-not-explode-when-they-crash/840025/47 "2019-09-14T22:01:24Z")
> [@jz78817](#): > > speaking of Last Action Hero, apparently cars explode [simply from driving past them.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o5tYgRTbP80&t=1m54s) _Well actually_ (shrill nerd voice), as you can see from the clip, the bad guys are throwing explosives. Later in the clip the explosives are shown as a pack of lit dynamite. So apparently each time they throw a pack of dynamite and miss, it causes the car they hit instead to explode violently as if it were filled with hundreds of gallons of gasoline. ---
**Author:** ![kirkrapine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/7ea924/32.png) [@kirkrapine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kirkrapine)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2019, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attention-directors-cars-do-not-explode-when-they-crash/840025/48 "2019-09-17T00:38:36Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > Yes that’s fuel. You need fuel to make a fireball. A hand grenade makes a bang and a small puff of smoke. A pound of C4 makes a disappointingly small boom. Hollywood explosions all include a large amount of fuel to make an impressive fireball. When you hear gunfire on the news, somehow it never sounds **real!** It just sounds like corn popping! ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2019, 11:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attention-directors-cars-do-not-explode-when-they-crash/840025/49 "2019-09-17T11:22:55Z")
> [@SamuelA](#): > > You know what _does_ explode quite nicely when it crashes? Rocket boosters that fail their landing attempts. > > Apparently, in hollywood every car is actually built like a rocket booster. A few differences between the Falcon 9 rocket and cars: It has a pressurized tank of LOX at its upper end that undergoes a BLEVE when ruptured; that’s the nice white cloud that precedes the main-tank rupture/fireball by a fraction of a second. The tank of RP-1 (basically kerosene) at its lower end is also pressurized. Between the pressure and the sloshing action during tipping, the fuel atomizes quite nicely when the tank ruptures on impact. RP-1 has a flash point somewhere between that of diesel and gasoline, so if you atomize it (see previous paragraph), it’s not hard to light it off. A tipped-over rocket generally has a fantastic ignition source right there in the engine. Not just a stray static spark, but a big hot plume of super-hot rocket exhaust and engine parts. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attention-directors-cars-do-not-explode-when-they-crash/840025.md?page=2)