🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <Bzu6DJ.I6v@ns1.nodak.edu> csmith@plains.NoDak.edu (Carl Smith) writes:
>In article <1992Dec25.134459.7728@ke4zv.uucp> gary@ke4zv.UUCP (Gary Coffman) writes:
>
>>You don't understand. The gasoline *does* contain the same amount of
>>energy as the flywheel, that's the whole point of the exercise. But
>>liquid gasoline can't explode. Only gasoline vapor properly mixed
>>with oxygen, 14:1 air/fuel ratio, can explode. 
>
>Normally I wouldn't find fault with such an insignificant detail, but
>I have seen this so many times during this tread that I thought I would
>make a comment.  14:1 is the IDEAL mixture, but there is a rather wide
>range over which the mixture will ignite.  Eventually it will be so rich
>that it will be hard to ignite due to "lack of oxygen," and in the other
>direction there can be so little gas fumes that you couldn't cause an
>explosion.  You don't need perfect 14:1 to cause an explosion.


The ambient temperature also matters.

The key point is that a certain volume of the proposed explosive has to give
off enough heat to raise a like volume to the ignition point.  This is an
easier constraint to meet for higher temperatures.

The reason why Diesel engines can run unthrottled but Otto engines can't, is
that the cylinder misture is raised above the ignition point by compression.
Therefore, any mixture, however lean, is already explosive.

-dk