OK, so it's time to admit that with the current H1N1 symptoms I'm not going to be getting much accomplished today. Better to read a book. Maybe something trivial and un-demanding. Randomly on the Kindle: Tom Swift and his Helvetica Fetish Arial Worship Aerial Warship.
As we're ambling through the introductory material, the red shed catches fire. Oh, no! Not the red shed! Seems they mustn't use water to extinguish it, on account of there being a bunch of calcium carbide stored therein.
Er, wait. Isn't calcium carbide always stored in airtight containers? Because otherwise it'll absorb moisture from the air? My supply is in a little paint-style can; how was it stored back in the day?
And Tom saves the day by sprinkling how many tons of sand on the conflagration, from his airship?
(Yeah, waiting until the heat pops the lids off the cans and then applying water would be bad news. Extinguish early!)
I'm sitting here wondering what modern use there is for calcium carbide. Acetylene gas lamps to protest against the incandescent ban? Actually, that does sound pretty cool.
Posted by: Joe | Monday, 27 January 2014 at 23:04
Calcium carbide! it is used to generate acetylene. But storing acetylene is risky task.
Posted by: Fenske | Wednesday, 27 August 2014 at 05:42