Doesn’t the flame of a stove/gas cooker/ Bunsen burner naturally want to travel down the pipe and blow a big hole in the wall? What stops this from happening?
In: Engineering
There’s no air in the pipes, gas can only burn if there’s air
Even during a fire when propane tanks explode, they first burst, and then the propane gets enough air to actually catch fire
If you eject the fuel at a high enough pressure from a fairly air-tight nozzle, oxygen can’t get back into the pipe to cause combustion. Think of it like a garden hose spitting out water, except in this case it’s a pipe with a combustible gas instead. As long as it’s turned on, oxygen just can’t get in.
If the pipe is damaged, there’s a problem. If there’s a blockage, there’s a problem.
You need four things for fire:
* Fuel
* Oxygen
* Heat
* A chemical reaction
When you turn on your stove or gas grill, you’re letting fuel (natural gas, propane) out into the air where it mixes with oxygen, which makes up about 20% of the atmosphere. Combine that with a heat source (a spark, match, etc) and a chemical reaction takes place and you have fire.
The fire doesn’t travel down through the burners and into the gas pipe or propane tank because there is little to no oxygen in them. Without oxygen there is no fire.
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