Maybe it was the Mexican food,
...coursing through my veins with cholesterol-ly goodness.
Or maybe it was that margarita.
But the newest Bruce Willis vehicle, Live Free or Die Hard, did not suck.
That "cool kid" from the Mac commercials makes a pretty decent sidekick, too.
Questions:
How does "routing every available cubic foot of natural gas on the eastern seaboard" to a specific location cause an automatic explosion there?
We have "F35s" flying?
Did somebody at 20th Century Fox get a really good deal on MP40's?
Best friend Scott and I had a good ol' time.
Labels: entertainment, public service message
posted by Matt G @ 1:35 AM
6 Comments:
If you pressurize natural gas quickly enough it will explode, so theoretically if you re-routed the pipelines and the pumps were strong enough, it would work. However, none of the pumps are strong enough in real life, but the theory behind it was relatively sound.
To the best of my knowledge CNG is usually only pressurized to a few PSI in our pipes as we get it. What kind of pressure will make it sponaneously explode?
I am an engineer (please don't hold it against me!) and used to work for a natural gas pipeline company. Yes the compressors (they are not called "pumps" (if they are recips) could potentially overpressure the pipeline and cause it to rupture.
HOWEVER, all installations are required to have Pressure Safety Valves (Relief Valves) which are mechanical, can't be remotely disabled, and are calculated so that they can relieve whatever flow can potentially be directed into that area. On top of that, every station can be "blown down" simply by hitting a button.
I haven't seen the movie, but it sounds like that scenario is about as possible as disabling an airport transmitter causing planes to circle and not be able to communicate with other airports. (or for that matter, couldn't Bruce simply find a plane on the ground to talk to the planes above on an emergency channel???)
anyway, just my $0.02....
Oh, and the gas transmission lines operate at a fairly high pressure, ours were about 1,400 psi. But regardless, natural gas does not spontaneously explode, at least not at any reasonable pressure that the line could withstand....
Oh, one last thing. I comment here and on LD's blog fairly frequently, and since I'd rather keep my engineering identity quiet, this post will be as Any Mouse!!! Sorry!!!!
oops, I mean to say A Nony Mouse!
The F35 isn't flying yet; I believe that's the nomenclature for the stalled Joint Strike Fighter program (or, if the Brits are still in on it, "programme".)
I was thinking that...
My best friend Scott --a Texas A&M trained and certified Aeronautical Engineer-- laughed and said, "Looks like Lockheed-Martin put some money into product placement."
The VTOL/hover cabability of the "B" varient is coolness.
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