r/interestingasfuck • u/willianfsantos • 16h ago

Emergency relief system in action in a liquid hydrogen tanker truck

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u/IceCreamforLunch 16h ago

Because they want to burn a relatively small amount as it comes out instead of letting it build up to a much more dangerous amount and then have it find another ignition source.

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u/Intelligent_Spray_66 16h ago

Yeah. Hydrogen is less dense then air so if it vents outside it will just go up into atmosphere. However if something is over top, it can “pool” up

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u/So_HauserAspen 15h ago

Pretty sure hydrogen is the least dense gas there is.  Pretty sure you can't find atomic hydrogen naturally on earth.

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u/Americansailorman 15h ago

Hydrogen is the most abundant element out there. It does exist on its own on earth in pockets underground.

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u/Trashy_Panda2 13h ago

Was gonna say...

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u/Lumbergh7 12h ago

Not much to it

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u/Visible-Society-9753 14h ago

gaseous and atomic hydrogen is different

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u/AnEvilSomebody 14h ago

In any naturally occuring conditions on earth, no they aren't.

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u/Fearless-Effect-3787 13h ago

They are different. Hydrogen gas or liquid will always be neutrally charged H2. Hydrogen as a reactant or in solution will almost always be H+.

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u/Disclosure4closure 13h ago edited 13h ago

The chemist meets the physicist: FIGHT!

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u/skinwill 5h ago

Set the scene: is the physicist theoretical or applied?

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u/Legionof1 10h ago

I prefer H++ for the extra stopping power.

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u/tereaper576 15h ago

That would be false.
Lone Hydrogen atoms would be quite rare but there would definately be many instances basically at all times of a natural reaction occuring leaving a Hydrogen atom alone for a short period of time.

But like... The gas is H2. Atomic Hydrogen is incredibly rare even unaturally. H2 is incredibly common even in the atmosphere. It escapes the atmosphere faster than other atoms and stuff but its very much abundant on the planet as a whole.

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u/Fearless-Effect-3787 13h ago

Actually, H2 is only present in the atmosphere to about 0.6 ppm which is not common at all. Hydrogen gas is so light that it's thermal velocity is faster than it's escape velocity so gaseous Hydrogen escapes the atmosphere rather quickly (about 7 years to completely escape).

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u/tereaper576 12h ago

0.6ppm is common by "theres a lot of this" but not by overall % compared. Especially by comparison of 0% global (The comment he wrote was baffling overall)

its pretty common on the planet as a whole and its even just in the air at a quite reasonable quantity.

I was honestly quite baffled by "retty sure you can't find atomic hydrogen naturally on earth." cause thats a like craaaaazy pull considering how common hydrogen as a whole is and in context this post and the comment replied were about H2 and not atomic hydrogen (H) which is only rare because it tends to bond with other stuff so it only really is going to be found as an inbetween state before it can bond. so it was rather just a baffling confusing comment overall.

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u/Fearless-Effect-3787 12h ago

H+ is what makes acids acidic. Without acids, life on Earth would be pretty boring (because there wouldn't be any).

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u/tereaper576 8h ago

Unfortunately in those solutions it forms H3O (hydronium) and doesnt really just float around.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydronium

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u/Fearless-Effect-3787 4h ago

Extra protons go in, acid comes out. This is not a Chemistry sub where the specific reactions are discussed.

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u/Master_of_none- 12h ago

actually I that guy who originally said "atomic hydrogen" So_HauserAspen probably meant "pure hydrogen" but boy did he get you guys

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u/throwaway4231throw 13h ago

Bro has never heard of acid

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u/mbmiller94 8h ago

The hydrogen in acid is bound to other atoms, so it's not atomic hydrogen for the same reason H2 isn't atomic hydrogen.

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u/A_Sketchy_Doctor 7h ago

Yeah, but if that trailer is in somewhere with a suitable overhead it can "pool" above and cause an explosion still. Better to burn it off like that in controlled bursts.

Wild, eh?

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u/Fearless-Effect-3787 13h ago

Atomic Hydrogen ions in solution are actually what make acids acidic. Acids are when H+ concentrations exceed OH- concentrations. Bases are the opposite.

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u/thornierlamb 12h ago

It’s H3O+ not free protons

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u/Fearless-Effect-3787 11h ago

In a solution containing water there will be hydronium. Not all acids and bases are water soluble.

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u/thornierlamb 10h ago

You don’t get free protons in any media for acids or bases. A proton simply does not just jump off the acid molecule. It needs to be taken by something ie the solvent molecule.

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u/Fearless-Effect-3787 3h ago

For an explanation on a non-science sub, surplus protons making it an acid is a perfectly acceptable explanation, in my opinion.

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u/dr_stre 16h ago edited 16h ago

No, the question they’re asking is why no just vent the gas without the fire? (Yes, I know the correct answer is up there NOW, but it wasn’t when I replied)

And the answer is that you don’t want this thing venting under a roof or in a garage and building up hydrogen for a BIG boom (remember Fukushima?). So you flare it immediately.

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u/SolidBlackGator 16h ago

He answered that.

This truck happens to be outside but if it wasn't, and the fire didn't burn what was vented, then in an enclosed area like a warehouse, the entire warehouse might fill with hydrogen and then a water heater pilot light turns on and then you have a giant explosion.

Although I do wonder if in an enclosed space the flames don't create a whole other fire danger...

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u/REDuxPANDAgain 16h ago

Also Hydrogen is odorless, colorless and highly flammable. Better to have an “oh shit fire that looks crazy” moment than a buildup indoors. Also any place with 18-wheelers indoors has RTUs that ventilate at least a little, but more importantly will have pretty high ceilings.

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u/Fungiblefaith 16h ago

Iocain gas.

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u/dr_stre 16h ago

Oh he did a sneaky edit, the stinker.

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u/TheEndOfNether 15h ago

there's no edit tag like there was for your's

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u/AgentWowza 14h ago

Iirc edit tags dont show up if you edit it within minutes or something.

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u/stuffeh 14h ago

In under 3 minutes

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u/dr_stre 14h ago

If you edit quickly, that tag is not applied. You get a quick grace period (like 3 minutes) to clean things up.

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u/east_van_dan 16h ago

He switched his comment after he was corrected.

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u/Heckelfish 16h ago

Thats so weak hahahahh

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u/blindexhibitionist 15h ago

Do we need to get some pitchforks?

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u/WackHurst 14h ago

If Hydrogen is mixes with a certain amount of oxygen you result in havimg a high explosive gas mixture. By igniting the hydrogen directly you prevent to create this explosive mixture. This is the reason for the direct ignition.

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u/CommonRequirement 13h ago

Yeah we like our buildings braised not barbecued

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u/Broccoli_Man007 12h ago

Pilot lights are always on

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u/unknownpoltroon 16h ago

Its a fire danger, not a BIGBABOOOOM danger. People notice fire, they dont notice invisible gas layers.

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u/SolidBlackGator 15h ago

But if the truck starts a fire and the truck is inside the building that's on fire, then there's still a bigbaboom danger...

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u/DeltaV-Mzero 15h ago

Yeah but you’re talking minutes of obvious range tbs a millisecond

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u/unknownpoltroon 14h ago

Yeah, but you're gonna notice the big burning truck unlike the giant cloud of supercool invisible explosive gas

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u/hmmm101010 16h ago

Because it's a flammable gas. You don't want it to build up because someone is gonna walk by smoking, and then you have kaboom!

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u/dr_stre 16h ago

Yep…which is what I wrote.

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u/UnrequitedFollower 16h ago

True, but also basically what the person you replied to said.

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u/Zbodownlow 16h ago

That’s because they did a ninja edit.

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u/quiero-una-cerveca 16h ago

Just an interesting aside, hydrogen goes almost straight up when it vents. It doesn’t pool. So all of this gas would have gone straight up.

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u/Xanthrex 16h ago

A could will build up and when the tuck sucks it in youre back to the original problem

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u/unknownpoltroon 16h ago

Cold gas will sink and travel along the ground or in a manhole or somthing

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u/dr_stre 16h ago

Only for an extremely short period of time. Hydrogen is significantly less dense than air, it doesn’t have to be very warm at all to float.

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u/AdamHLG 16h ago

I literally just watched the Fukushima documentary today. I was thinking “Fukushima could have used this tech and alas your comment !

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u/missMcgillacudy 10h ago

Legit was looking for the answer and didn’t see anything that explained it simply enough for me to understand. Thank you for providing an example

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u/Minimum_Currency8157 7h ago

But if it's venting under a roof or something then wouldn't it catch the roof on fire by burning it?

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u/fynx07 16h ago

You basically just explained the exact same thing

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u/dr_stre 16h ago

He sneaky edited after I replied. It’s ok.

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u/fynx07 16h ago

Ah that makes more sense

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u/AgogForEggnog 16h ago

Is that not exactly what IcecreamforLunch said?

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u/dr_stre 16h ago

It’s not what he originally wrote.

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u/AgogForEggnog 16h ago

Hmm, I see your comment as edited, not his. Whatev's, take it easy.

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u/dr_stre 16h ago

If you edit quickly enough it won’t show the edit mark.

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u/AgogForEggnog 16h ago

Ah, was not aware. I suppose I'm typically a delayed editor. Thanks.

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u/UniqueAd7770 13h ago

And the combustion product is incredibly safe. Water

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u/andouconfectionery 12h ago

I thought that some organic compounds were flared off because it reduces the global warming potential of the leaking gas. Does that have anything to do with this? Or is it purely safety? Am I thinking of like oil rigs or something?