This question has been rattling around aimlessly in my mind for more than 20 years. (That was not a straight line, incidentally. :D)
I used to see cylinders, containing some kind of gas under pressure, either being used on a construction site or chained, and presumably secured, to a utility pole. Since I don’t handle firearms myself this may be moot, but–what would happen if someone were to draw a bead on one of those cylinders, with a .357 Magnum or a Luger, for example, and shoot at it? Would the cylinder explode, or shoot out a jet of gas; or would the bullet just bounce off it?
Not a good idea to give people bad ideas. Rupturing a pressurized gas vessel can be catastrophic. Depending on the pressure and how the tank is broken it may explode like a grenade. Remember the last scene in Jaws? Of course SCUBA tanks are around 3,000psi IIRC and a tank used for sandblasting might be 175psi but with much larger volume.
That’s one reason pressure tanks are tested with water. Since water is almost noncompressable you can pressurize to 3,000 psi. If there is a small breech, even a small amount of escaping water relieves the pressure. The rest just leaks out normally. If a SCUBA tank with air cracks the rest of the air still wants to get out.
Depends on what’s in it, I expect. The tanks are fairly robust, but I would think at least some bullets could penetrate them. Hollow points might not, but a full metal jacket probably would. If it’s O2, probably nothing too dramatic would happen. If it’s acetylene…I recommend shooting from a very substantial distance. Actually, I recommend leaving the things the hell alone. I don’t know what you might have seen if it wasn’t tanks for an oxy-acetylene torch.
This is a dangerous misunderstanding. A burst pressure vessel of ordinary air or even inert gas can cause a catastrophic explosion. Haven’t you heard of boiler explosions leveling whole buildings? That’s nothing but water.
It probably was oxyacetytlene, Gorsnak. I also read in Building Blocks of the Universe, by Isaac Asimov, about the Germans’ first use of chlorine as a war weapon against the Canadians and French in 1915, in World War I. I guess they figured the Candian and French soldiers would not shoot at the tanks… :rolleyes:
Well, it would depend on the pressure. I can’t think off the top of my head what range of pressures O2 in those tanks is at. Certainly you’re right that there would be an explosive release of gas, excepting cases where the tank was nearing empty. Fragments of fittings might be hurled some distance. But those tanks aren’t big enough to replicate anything like a boiler explosion, complete with a mini shockwave. Boilers are a couple orders of magnitude larger. By “nothing too dramatic” I just meant you wouldn’t get a fireball. Unless the oxy tank ripped the top off the acetylene tank in its death throes, of course.
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- Been there, done that.
- Been there, done that.
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- Pistol bullets just bounce off and leave a smudge. Steel-core rifle bullets (mil 223’s) make a hole in one side and then there’s a loud “SHHHHHHHHHH” for a couple seconds, and that’s it. This was on a tank that had about 1000 psi of nitrogen in it, I don’t know if 2000 lbs more would have made any difference or not.
- Acetylene tanks only have about 300 psi, not that much. Other welding tanks usually have 3000 when full.
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IMHO the answer to the OP question is dependent upon the pressure of the vessel and the commodity carried. Acetylene must be dissolved in acetone before it can be compressed, or it will spontaneously decompose (explode). This is one reason for the lower pressurization.
Oxygen, nitrogen, and breathing air can be pressurized at levels up to 6K PsiG. The tank of air I wear on my back as a firefighter is full at 4500 PsiG. Usually, steel and aluminum cylinders top out at around 2000 PsiG unless they are composite construction, e.g. base material with an overwrap of fiberglass or kevlar.
I wouldn’t want to shoot one. The stored energy in a cylinder, even if the contents are inert, can propel bottle fragments with great force.
If you want to do that, let me know. I’ll set up a lawn chair and video camera from a goodly distance.
In their gas cylinder safety class, Praxair makes the claim that some cylinders have been in use for almost a century. I’m sure that these cylinders have seen their share of abuse over the years, but I wouldn’t want to press my luck.
Steel tanks are not glass or latex, they won’t rip apart if a small
hole is made in them.
There would probably be a strong jet of gas. If the gas is flammable
it might be ignited by nearby sparks or heat sources and cause
fire and/or explosions, but the bullet itself would not ignite it unless
it was a tracer and in that case it might not be strong enough to
penetrate.
Ususally tanks chained to utility poles contain CO2 for pushing water out of lines. I have seen a 3000psi CO2 cylinder explode through a car trunk, taking the lid and itself over 40 feet into the air. I’m not too sure about the effects of a bullet, but I’ll ask around tomorrow for you.
I think Grievar is right, but if you were to shoot the nozzle off I’d imagine it could become a bullet in its own right. At least that’s what we were told in SCUBA training.