Where did 'Energetically flammable' come from? And, for that matter, where does the superheated air come from? Since it's a bitch to get Atmos to cooperate, I only use regular Oxygen, just topped up to maximum. It still explodes.
You could argue that the tank-transfer valve is already fitted with an igniter (actually, that's how grenades should be made. Nobody ever makes an assembly without igniters for a grenade. Just add a signalling device and beakers.), since Plasma-Air mix does not explode on its own.
Actually, if we're talking real-life chemistry, it's impossible for it to ignite just by opening the valves (and remember that it still will explode if you just slap two 20*C tanks on a TTV, so it's not temperature difference either) - as you said, you need a spark (or more accurately, you need to provide activation energy, which may or may not be returned as a result of the reaction). This could be an electric discharge, a shake (see nitroglycerin), kinetic energy of particles in a hot substance... but you need energy, and SS13 bombs work without superheated air.
And as to why Oxygen is not explosive: as you said yourself, you need oxidant, any oxidant, not specifically pure oxygen. Potassium manganate (VII) could be used to make something explode, but if you burn it with a lighter, it's not going to explode.
I meant to say superheated CO2, which is what you are doing in toxins when you are burning in the Toxins mixing chamber. It is a vital component of the bombs. It's what you fill the rest of the plasma tank with. And yes, you have oxygen on the other tank, which completes the little necessary triumvirate. Oxidant, fuel, activation. If the superheated air isn't the activation, WHY is it in the bomb then? If there is an igniter in the transfer valve, then we don't need to do all the long, tedious parts of toxins, and instead just attach a max-cap plasma and O2 tank to one another on the valve.
And let me restate my former contention. Oxygen isn't explosive, but it burns really fucking well, and when you compress things that burn, it can cause an explosion. Therefore it is rather easy to create situations in which oxygen aids or causes explosions. Therefore a bomb utilizing oxygen tanks would not be completely outside the realm of possibility. Obviously you'd need fuel and activation, which the proximity mine idea lacks, but it's not as unsound as you initially made it sound.
Again, oxygen does not burn. If something is flammable, it can go to a higher oxidation state, this is, be oxidated. Oxygen as a gas, i.e. in the for of O2, is at its maximum oxidation state, and nothing can oxidate it further, so it is non-flammable at all. It is, however, a strong oxidant, and in the presence of something that is a strong... reductant, the resulting reduction-oxidation reaction is highly exothermal. If coupled with rapid expansion, BOOM! ensues.
Since there's always around 20% of oxygen in the air, opening a pure oxygen tank anywhere is not going to be particularly dangerous unless someone actively provides activation energy and fuel.
And you ignore what I said: you can have bombs made from 1 tank pure 20*C Plasma 1 tank pure 20*C Oxygen, no heating up involved, and they work. They are weaker than properly prepared bombs, but they still explode perfectly fine. You aren't actually supposed to have CO2 in the tank, superheated or not, it is basically waste.
What you want is hot Plasma, but the Plasma needs to be hot for an entirely different reason - namely, you want a difference in temperatures. 0*C O2 20*C Plasma 1:1 mole mix and 20*C O2 40*C Plasma 1:1 mole mix, provided the amount of moles in both tanks are the same, would have the exact same explosive power.
Not quite. Hans is right, for a good bomb you need all three: plasma, oxygen, and superheated gas. It's the most basic of concepts, the exact same mix as you need for any other fire: heat, fuel, oxidant. Superheated CO2 happens to be the product of the heating chamber, and since most/all of the plasma burns off, you first fill the tank with a certain amount of plasma, and then pump it full of superheated CO2. That's so you have a decent quantity of superheated plasma. The O2 doesn't burn
directly per se, but without it you don't have a bomb, you have a gas leak. There's also some sort of effect based on the temperature differential between the two tanks, which is why cooled O2 increases the yield, all other things being the same.
Also, no, the detonation device, whatever it may be, does not generate sparks. You're attaching it to the valve, and triggering it does nothing more than open the valve. Try hooking a pair of remote detonators up to the same frequency and code, then send a signal from one to the other. No shower of sparks, fancy that.
Incidentally, the heating process? Yeah, a proper burn will get your gas mix up to something like 19 times the temperature of the sun's surface. That is, suffice to say, hot enough to self-ignite if there's an oxidant present.
Author
Topic: Space Station 13: Urist McStation (Read 2146636 times)