The CO2 cartridges that were used in Crossman and Daisy air rifles in the 1960s and 1970s would explode. We would throw one into a camp fire and run. In a few minutes it would explode with a sound about the level of an M80. We once found an exploded cartridge, which had landed maybe 200 feet from the fire. It was torn apart and almost unrecognizable.

The manufacturers may have de-Darwinized the cartridge design since then.

Interesting data point, and I'll bet that's exactly what happened. Too many kids out having fun...

Maybe a segment suggestion for this show, they are little boys & girls
who have arrested the decline in doing that stuff, by having a cable TV show. http://dsc.discovery.com/tv/mythbusters/

If the cylinder does have an end plug failure in your saddlebag and it's pointing backward, you really will get a "boost" as it "rockets" forward from your saddlebag and hits the first thing it comes too. You may have to have it surgically removed. :)

I just hacksawed a 12g crosswise and think the walls are pretty thick. Definitely can't even bend it at all with your fingers, like you can with a pop can.

http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=206801

Personally I don`t take anything as gospel just because its posted on the Internet. Without required references its far to easy to post anything so what you posted as sources is just supposition.

Blackpowder was around for hundreds of years before any of the sources you quoted and it is a confirmable fact that Sir Francis Bacon did extensive experiments with over a decade - the results of which were published formally in 1268 in Latin. That much is high school history. There are reports that the term was named after one of his assistants - actually I really don`t care.

What does concern me is that nothing in this thread is of any value to the OP`s original concern and I`m personally completely uninterested in a pissing match as I`ve see you do with other posters.You may have time to burn - I don`t. At the moment the bicycle shops are keeping me busy 60+ hours a week and the only reason I`m on here is to ocassionally give what might be some useful advice.

At this point I`m dropping this thread and I`l be ignoring any and all of your posts in the future.

Only the carbon fiber ones.

And then only if you get them wet.

So what are the odds that Homeland Security is all over this thread?

When it suits your purpose, you seem quick enough to take the internet as gospel - re: your post on explosions being of only chemical origin.

Gunpowder was introduced into Europe in the 13th century. Sir Francis Bacon was born in 1561 so it would have been rather hard for him to write anything on gunpowder in 1268. Perhaps you are thinking of Roger Bacon's treatise, Epistola de secretis operibus artiis et naturae from 1267.

Of course the latin roots of the term, explode, far predate it's use to describe what you are describing. By roughly 1200 years.

Then give useful advice. A rapid depressurization of a pressurized vessel is, indeed, an explosion. Rapidly expanding pressure wave, loud noise, possible flying particulates, etc. are all elements of explosions. Even if only the rupture disc releases, the results will be close enough to an explosion that I dare you to tell the difference.

A BCRider has shown, the temperature required to rupture the disc could be much less than what I calculated.

Feel free to ignore anything you like.

Cycommute is the biggest wet blanket jesus.

Win.


Epic win.

The sort of punishment a CO2 cartridge can take before it explodes.

I found this thread on a google search about co2 cartridge exploding if left in a c02 air gun. They can explode.

I was working on my girlfriends bike and used one of those portable c02 cartridges and pumps to fill up the tire. I got distracted and left the pump engaged on concrete step and forgot about it for a few days. One morning I came back and picked it up to resume work on the bike, I picked up the pump, which had been sitting in the hot sun and it was hot to the touch. I set it down and went to grab the wheel when it exploded. There was plastic and metal shards all over the place. I'm sure had I been holding it, it would have wrecked my hand up pretty bad. I guess the heat from the sun, the black plastic casing absorbing more heat and the fact that it was under pressure all led to the failure of the whole device. I don't know if they would have blown up on their own, but in combination, the compressed gas coming out colder than the surrounding material may have caused the metal/plastic to fail. Quite spectacular and dangerous.

I think I know what happened here. You inserted the cartridge into the plastic dispenser and threaded on the top. That punctured the metal seal in the cartridge neck and, at that point, only the valve in the dispenser was containing the pressure. It's not anywhere near as strong as the original neck plug and probably failed from the heat.

I was in a gun store a while ago and a guy came in and asked if bullets could explode if left in a hot car...

Smokeless powder will autoignite at around 600 degrees. There won't be much left of your car by then...

A nitpicker might note that there's no powder in a "bullet" anyway. Though I guess at about 700 degrees you'll get a little puddle of lead, which might be tough to get out of the dashboard.

What's in a bullet then?

A "bullet" is just the projectile. The complete unit that includes the case, primer, powder and bullet is a "cartridge".

Is anal-retentive supposed to be hyphenated?

Some things are worth getting right, "bullet" is one of those.

Because if you go into a gun shop and ask for bullets, they'll chip off the tips of cartridges and sell you those?