# Fucking Darwin Award candidate... **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [December 4, 2003, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fucking-darwin-award-candidate/216931 "2003-12-04T13:49:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Rebo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rebo/32/13005_2.png) [@Rebo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rebo)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2003, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fucking-darwin-award-candidate/216931/1 "2003-12-04T13:49:52Z")
I saw a guy pull up to a gas pump today. With a lit cigarette between his lips. He got out of the car and started pumping gas, _ **with a lit cigarette!!!** _ I started to say something, then saw an employee sweeping up, and told him. I drove off as he was confronting the moron… ---
**Author:** ![Cheesesteak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cheesesteak/32/3694_2.png) [@Cheesesteak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheesesteak)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2003, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fucking-darwin-award-candidate/216931/2 "2003-12-04T14:51:12Z")
Hey, I had a guy working on my car’s fuel pump and carbeurator while smoking a lit cigarette. Your dude is a regular Smokey Bear in comparison. ---
**Author:** ![World\_Eater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f04885/32.png) [@World\_Eater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/World_Eater)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2003, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fucking-darwin-award-candidate/216931/3 "2003-12-04T15:10:18Z")
If that thing had blown up, you most certainly would have been in “a haven of light” 😃 ---
**Author:** ![SeekingTruth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/34f0e0/32.png) [@SeekingTruth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SeekingTruth)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2003, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fucking-darwin-award-candidate/216931/4 "2003-12-04T15:19:02Z")
Unless the “cherry” directly hits the gas, no problem. Every gas station I’ve been to is outdoors, therefore the fumes can’t concentrate to a level where combustion can occur. I live in North Dakota, if there was an indoor gas station, I suspect we would have one of the first. ---
**Author:** ![Rick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9f8e36/32.png) [@Rick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2003, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fucking-darwin-award-candidate/216931/5 "2003-12-04T15:27:24Z")
Vapor, it is the gas vapor that burns not the liquid. While it is not likely that the vapor will get to a combustible concentration it is possible. If the guy is dumb enough to smoke when refueling (despite the NO SMOKING signs all around) then he is probably dumb enough to leave the cig in his hand when he goes to remove the nozzle from the tank… ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2003, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fucking-darwin-award-candidate/216931/6 "2003-12-04T15:31:18Z")
Cool, Houston needs more drivers equipped with JATOs. ---
**Author:** ![SeekingTruth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/34f0e0/32.png) [@SeekingTruth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SeekingTruth)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2003, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fucking-darwin-award-candidate/216931/7 "2003-12-04T15:46:57Z")
Argh! Vapor is what I meant. I’m not saying it’s safe (I would never do it). But the warning is for legal purposes, to prevent lawsuits. The same as turning off your engine, which I suspect is because sometimes a running car’s electrical system can sometimes cause a spark somehow. That, or it’s easier to drive off with a running car. ---
**Author:** ![emulsified](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/emulsified/32/2915_2.png) [@emulsified](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/emulsified)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2003, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fucking-darwin-award-candidate/216931/8 "2003-12-04T15:57:27Z")
I was watching Mythbusters on the Discovery Channel a week or so ago and they were trying to ignite flammable materials in a toilet bowl to debunk a particular urban legend. Anyway, when they dropped a lit cigarette into various flammable materials, including gasoline, they never ignited, the cigarette was merely extinguished. When they dropped a lit match, however, things went boom. It should go without saying that one should not try this at home, or at the gas station for that matter. ---
**Author:** ![Mac\_Guffin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/2bfe46/32.png) [@Mac\_Guffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mac_Guffin)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2003, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fucking-darwin-award-candidate/216931/9 "2003-12-04T16:01:22Z")
Also, **Seekingtruth** , my fellow Nodackian, gas fumes tend to pool, as they are heavier than air. If dipshit drops his cig, or the cherry drops, it’s boomarama. ---
**Author:** ![Debaser](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/3da27b/32.png) [@Debaser](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Debaser)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2003, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fucking-darwin-award-candidate/216931/10 "2003-12-04T16:27:28Z")
I’m no expert but… If it were possible to blow oneself up by smoking at a gas station, then wouldn’t somebody have already done it by now? I’ve never heard of this happenning. (Not that I’m saying it’s a good idea or anything.) ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2003, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fucking-darwin-award-candidate/216931/11 "2003-12-04T17:23:16Z")
Even at its hottest (~400 [sup]o[/sup]F) a lit cigarette isn’t hot enough to ignite gasoline vapors, which have an ignition point of between 500 - 860 [sup]o[/sup]F, depending on the formulation and additives. ---
**Author:** ![Interrobang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/interrobang/32/17463_2.png) [@Interrobang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Interrobang)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2003, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fucking-darwin-award-candidate/216931/12 "2003-12-04T17:44:55Z")
If you fuck a Darwin Award candidate, aren’t you interfering with Darwin’s plan for that individual? ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2003, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fucking-darwin-award-candidate/216931/13 "2003-12-04T18:03:12Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Q.E.D. \* > \*\*Even at its hottest (~400 [sup]o[/sup]F) a lit cigarette isn’t hot enough to ignite gasoline vapors, which have an ignition point of between 500 - 860 [sup]o[/sup]F, depending on the formulation and additives. \*\* Yikes! I take that back. According to [www.physlink.com/Education/AskExperts/ae1.cfmhl=en&ie=UTF-8](http://216.239.57.104/search?q=cache:xVpFtQ6jfa4J:%5Burl)]this cached Google page, a cigarette can burn much hotter than my own measurements indicated. It seems under the right set of circumstances, a lit cigarette certainly _can_ ignite gasoline vapors. ---
**Author:** ![FilmGeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b19c9b/32.png) [@FilmGeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FilmGeek)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2003, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fucking-darwin-award-candidate/216931/14 "2003-12-04T20:09:26Z")
I was in St Louis and got a flat tire at 9 pm on a Saturday night. We went to a local gas station to get the spare filled up and ask where we could get a tire at this late hour. The attendant came out smoking. After he gave us his business card (he sells siding and housepaint on the side, but don’t tell his boss because he already got reprimanded once) he flicked his lit cigarette at the pumps. We thought we were going to die. ---
**Author:** ![pippi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e95f7d/32.png) [@pippi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pippi)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2003, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fucking-darwin-award-candidate/216931/15 "2003-12-05T00:23:22Z")
When I was living in West Africa during my (brief) stint in the Peace Corps, I was positive that my last moments would be spent in the back of some ancient Peugot. Every time I’d catch the public transit car, we’d pull into the gas station to fill it up, and, without fail, they’d leave the engine running through the whole process. I’d _always_ be sitting in the hot seat immediately above the gas tank, and the car would \* always\* be inhumanly packed with fellow passengers/sufferers (so that if there were a fire, there’s no way in hell I’d ever be able to claw my way out). I don’t recall any of them smoking, but I may have been numbed to it by then. I don’t know if they didn’t realize the danger, or didn’t care, but nobody else ever seemed bothered by it. ---
**Author:** ![Rick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9f8e36/32.png) [@Rick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2003, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fucking-darwin-award-candidate/216931/16 "2003-12-05T01:32:37Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Q.E.D. \* > \*\*Yikes! I take that back. According to [www.physlink.com/Education/AskExperts/ae1.cfmhl=en&ie=UTF-8](http://216.239.57.104/search?q=cache:xVpFtQ6jfa4J:%5Burl)]this cached Google page, a cigarette can burn much hotter than my own measurements indicated. It seems under the right set of circumstances, a lit cigarette certainly _can_ ignite gasoline vapors. \*\* Linkey no work, I would like to see the information, could you repost a working link? ---
**Author:** ![Goober\_McFly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/49beb7/32.png) [@Goober\_McFly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Goober_McFly)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2003, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fucking-darwin-award-candidate/216931/17 "2003-12-05T01:37:57Z")
I would have dialed 911 on my cellphone. ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2003, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fucking-darwin-award-candidate/216931/18 "2003-12-05T02:01:18Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Rick \* > \*\*Linkey no work, I would like to see the information, could you repost a working link? \*\* [Here.](http://216.239.39.104/search?q=cache:xVpFtQ6jfa4J:www.physlink.com/Education/AskExperts/ae1.cfm+hl=en&ie=UTF-8) ---
**Author:** ![leenmi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f1d935/32.png) [@leenmi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/leenmi)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2003, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fucking-darwin-award-candidate/216931/19 "2003-12-05T02:29:54Z")
On still, dry, cold days when conditions are just right it is possible for static electricity to set off an explosion or fire at the gas pumps. If the conditions are right, a sufficient amount of fuel vapors can collect in an area, even outside, to cause an explosion when an ignition source is present. It’s just not all that common. [link about electrostatic discharge](http://www.esdjournal.com/static/fires_files/waynes.htm) Much less likely that a cigarette would do it. The point, though, is that it _could_. ---
**Author:** ![tulokyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9bd4f/32.png) [@tulokyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tulokyn)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2003, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fucking-darwin-award-candidate/216931/20 "2003-12-05T02:43:31Z")
My mother once managed a gas station, and she would always be on her staff’s cases to not start the gas pumps if the person’s car was on, or if they were smoking. There was an intercom which the staff would use to ask the customers to turn off the car or put out the cigarette. If someone got caught at the pumps doing either of these two things while pumping gas, my Mom would get a hefty fine, because it was her responsibility to get people to conform to the law. In Canada, at least, it’s quite illegal to smoke within a certain distance of the gas pumps. (I apologize for how incomprehensible that story was.) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fucking-darwin-award-candidate/216931.md?page=2)