Oxy-acetylene safety demonstration - GIF

[BuffaloJohn]

Somehow, I fail to see this as a safety demonstration. At best it was a demonstration of how a mixture of volatile gas and oxygen will explode when ignited. There is no explanation of the type or mix ratio of which gas was used. Obviously OXY/ACT, can be explosive. but the same can be said for just about any combustible gas when mixed with oxygen.

Agreed - explainations really are needed because without them, it is just playing.

I saw an experiment MIT did for the USAF which measured the velocities of various gases used in a potato cannon (yeah, this is the stuff DOGE should be looking at) and this is what was concluded:

"To measure the potato’s acceleration, they filmed proceedings with a high-speed camera at 2000 frames per second. They then plotted the position of the potato in the barrel against time and calculated the exit velocity when it left the muzzle. They repeated the experiment five times for each propellant.

The results point to a clear winner. Propane, ethanol, methanol and butane all produce muzzle velocities of between 28 and 48 metres per second. But acetylene is in a class of its own, producing a muzzle velocity of 138 metres per second. That’s over 300 mph."