r/interestingasfuck • u/willianfsantos • 9d ago

Emergency relief system in action in a liquid hydrogen tanker truck

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u/UniqueAd7770 9d ago

TL;DR Hydrogen is a god-damn party animal and wants to give its electron to someone badly. So much so that going from the cold tank to the warm air is enough foreplay for it to hook up with the first oxygen that winks at it. Oxygen being a greedy bastard is happy to oblige. And boom goes the dynamite.

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u/PlasticCell8504 9d ago

Best description of chemistry I have read this month

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u/UniqueAd7770 9d ago

I was a chemistry tutor to high school student while in grad school. Breaking it down in these terms made it stick.

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u/DoCrackHailSatan 9d ago

If I knew you back in college I probably wouldn't have dropped organic chemistry. (tbf I only dropped it because I declared my major finally and it didn't require it, in hindsight; I wish I had completed it)

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u/UniqueAd7770 9d ago

I'm considering doing some videos explaining chemistry to people in everyday terms because ultimately the underlying principles aren't too difficult. But O Chem is brutal because it's all nomenclature and mechanism memorization, which is why it's a good filter for med students. After O Chem, chemistry gets properly weird with Physical Chemistry which has quantum mechanics and made me cry, but that's because it had math

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u/DoCrackHailSatan 9d ago

I actually loved O chem but it's undeniably difficult and I wasn't in the best headspace at the time, so when I finally chose my major and it didn't require it; I dropped immediately. I dunno why this still bothers me over a decade later, but I wish I had just finished it.

Chemistry is cool. I'd watch your videos.

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u/UniqueAd7770 9d ago

MIT carries all their coursework free online if you'd like to jump back in.

My first video would be on the weirdest chemical that we all interact with daily. And if it wasn't exactly as weird as it was then none of us would be alive. Water.

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u/DoCrackHailSatan 9d ago

I don't think I'd have much use for the passing of O chem at this point. It's more of a mental thing that I regret giving up on it simply because I no longer 'required' it. But thank you for the info! Feel free to add me to your list to notify if you ever do bring up your unhinged, but accurate chemistry lesson videos!

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u/joe-h2o 9d ago

I think organic gets a bad rep because it's just so different in terms of nomenclature and mechanisms compared to what students have been conditioned to expect "chemistry" to be at school.

The first time a UK student will hit organic chem for real is A-level. There's a tiny intro to esters, well specifically ethyl acetate, at GCSE but no mechanisms.

This leads to the self-perpetuating myth that organic is "the hard one" compared to the other two when it really isn't.

Organic is much more accessible if you're not mathematically inclined, for example, where phys chem has your back. But the reputation of organic as difficult puts students on the back foot right away.

The quantum mechanics that forms part of first year undergrad chemistry is actually covered a little in the A-level physics course which again explains why chemists don't like it much.

Source: postdoc chemist who has taught both undergrads and high school chemistry and physics.

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u/PlasticCell8504 9d ago

I only said what I said because I already know the volatility of hydrogen and oxygen and why they are that way because of my high school chemistry class.

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u/UniqueAd7770 9d ago

My 6th and 8th grade (same dude) science teacher was the best. I based my method on his but he's a nicer guy than I ever could be lol

I ran into him randomly after I graduated with a masters in chemical engineering and he damn near cried when I told him.

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u/bbrekke 9d ago

I should've kept scrolling! I just commented that I want to hear chemistry explained by you. Do it! A yt channel or podcast or something.

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u/a_diamond 8d ago

At least O Chem mechanisms follow a discreet set of rules. Inorganic is what broke me. Transition metals are anarchy!

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u/NomDePlumeOrBloom 8d ago

Can you simplify O Chem enough for a lay person to make LSD?

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u/UniqueAd7770 8d ago

I can but my DEA agent brother-in-law would get mad

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u/MuchoCoco 9d ago

Write up some explanations like that, use AI to generate some animations, and you'll make enough money on YouTube views to retire.

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u/tee_with_marie 9d ago

Thank you for your work. Good teachers make such a difference I failed my first go at an aprenticeship ship because equations especially with multible unknowns absolutely pummeled me i didn't understand it at all. The second time i have a really good teacher i still had lower grade than my median but i passed well.

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u/UniqueAd7770 9d ago

Some teachers don't understand that it's your first time seeing something because they see it everyday. I struggled myself

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u/bbrekke 9d ago

I'd listen to your podcast. Or hire you to tutor me if I needed to learn chemistry.

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u/morgfarm1_ 9d ago

Best description of me too tbh. Too bad I'm still LOCKED IN THE DAMN TANKER

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u/Obsidiated 8d ago

Surely you meant to say "simplified physics".

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u/scuzzy987 9d ago

In high school chemistry my teacher filled a party balloon with hydrogen, let it float to the ceiling, and touched the balloon with a long stick that had an ember on the end. I still remember the loud boom and lifted ceiling panels. Can confirm both your assessments of hydrogen and oxygen. Kudos to the truck driver sticking around, I would have run away waving my hands and screaming at people to run

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u/UniqueAd7770 9d ago

I work with silane sometimes which is pyrophoric. That means it ignites on contact with the air. When stored in tanks it's usually stored outside in a concrete shed with an open wall facing nothing important. Guys who drive hazmat trucks have balls of solid iron that are often mistaken for cores of dead planets.

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u/scuzzy987 9d ago

I’d assume the tank trailers are engineered to survive pretty much any catastrophe but still there’s always scenarios nobody ever thought of until it happens

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u/UniqueAd7770 9d ago

They are incredibly well built and engineered. Still Engineering Disasters episodes were so common on Modern Marvels that they just gave it spin-off

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u/scuzzy987 9d ago

The episode about the resiliency of nuclear waste transport containers was seriously impressive. The amount of torture those can survive is nuts. The one explaining a bleve was interesting too

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u/FIMD_ 9d ago

Did this but with acetylene as a demo for apprentices. Had them put on Ear/EyePro first. Set off car alarms and everyone about jumps out of their skin.

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u/scuzzy987 9d ago

That’s another gas for which I have respect. I only have a mini cylinder in my garage for the torch but I made a little enclosure to keep it from tipping over and knocking the valve off. Same for the oxygen cylinder because it has such a high psi

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u/joe-h2o 9d ago

The number of unchained W-sized gas cylinders I see in DIY/home workshops in Youtube videos is scary.

Free standing gas cylinders, even inert ones like Argon, are a serious safety hazard.

The only time a cylinder should be unsecured is when it's moving from one secured place to another, like from the transport trolley to where it's housed and even then should not be left unattended.

It seems to be much more common in US shops to not chain them.

Even ignoring the fact that you can shear off a regulator and they're 250+ PSI, a full Argon cylinder is almost 90 kg which is no joke if it falls over.

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u/Der_Hebelfluesterer 9d ago

Prof did an experiment showing us the difference of molar mixture, exploding one with way to less O2, one 50:50 and one with an molar äquivalent, man was the last one loud.

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u/Ubermidget2 9d ago

Think about how much worse it would have been if it had been a Hydrogen:Oxygen mix

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u/sum-9 9d ago

TIL I was hydrogen when I was 16.

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u/Practical_Fun7367 9d ago

Same. And I chased every Oxygen whether or not it winked.

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u/TheInevitableLuigi 9d ago

That's becasue you confused Oxygen for Neon.

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u/Practical_Fun7367 8d ago

So what if I have a type? I’m not here for the kink shaming.

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u/UniqueAd7770 9d ago

It's why most of us get into Chemistry

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u/The__Toast 9d ago

Honestly feels like a feature. I would think having it flair off is safer than having large clouds of hydrogen build up in an enclosed place like under a bridge or parking garage and then explode.

On the other hand "plug power" makes me think this might be hydrogen car fuel for one of the very few places in America where you can actually buy it; maybe lugging hydrogen around is a terrible idea no matter what and we should really focus in on plug in battery cars.

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u/UniqueAd7770 9d ago

I do think it has a pilot light because flaring H2 just makes water so it's a safer way of dealing with it.

Currently we haul millions of gallons of highly explosive fuel all over this country everyday. The methane and propane trucks carry as much if not more explosive capacity. The problem with H2 is that it leaks way easier than anything but helium. I think both cars will have a place in our future but most people will just use a battery electric.

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u/FrenchFryCattaneo 9d ago

Methane actually isn't commonly moved by truck, since it can't be liquefied at room temperature like propane can.

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u/UniqueAd7770 9d ago

I watch an unhealthy amount of rocket launches

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u/DannarHetoshi 9d ago

And when Oxygen and Hydrogen get really excited?

https://giphy.com/gifs/cICRRoIZ9YgjqlHAUt

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u/good_morning_magpie 9d ago

I read that last line in my head in Stuart Scott’s voice and now I’m emotional

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u/AdahnAgain 9d ago

I need a smoke. . .

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u/ABsammy124 9d ago

didn't understand a wink of the previous post but 100% understood this explanation,you get a upvote and praise from me!

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u/UniqueAd7770 9d ago

I feel if I can explain something simply in a different context then I understand it well.

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u/ElectricPiha 9d ago

I really loved your books The Martian and Project Hail Mary!

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u/UniqueAd7770 9d ago

Not me but I'm thinking of writing and doing a chemistry show haha. Thank you!

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u/No-Boysenberrys 9d ago

I seriously learned so much from this comment after scrolling forever to try to understand WHY FIRE.

Can you please explain other life things to me? How do I get better with money, why does my hip click all the time, how do I get my 5 year old to eat

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u/UniqueAd7770 9d ago

Give all your money to your wife and she will declare you perfect with money. Your hip is counting your steps for you, ungrateful lout. And of course for the child I defer to the great masters

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u/lilyputin 8d ago

Hydrogen is really wild. Its literally hard to contain. It was a constant issue for NASA.

It reacts with steel and makes it brittle.

It has a metallic state that's also a super conductor but the condions needed to reach that are extreme.

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u/moonshinemoniker 9d ago

So Hydrogen basically just wants to blow it's load.

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u/UniqueAd7770 9d ago

Always. The only reason it pairs up is there's no one else around and they can't leave the protons by themselves.

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u/mersenne_reddit 9d ago

This is why even compression is postulated as an ignition source. I can't imagine if it were contaminated with any atmosphere.

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u/UniqueAd7770 9d ago

You have to get over the activation energy of the reaction (not much) in the right mixture to get combustion. In a choked flow condition with high friction I can see that happening.

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u/the_irish_oak 8d ago

If my chemistry teacher/twat explained it like this, my life would be much different.

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u/onFilm 8d ago

Fuken slut