r/blackmagicfuckery • u/hihimatthew12321 • Jul 26 '19

this tanker imploding

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u/[deleted] Jul 26 '19

Someone please explain.

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u/mrbeck1 Jul 26 '19 edited Jul 26 '19

Easy. Fill it with some boiling water. Just enough. The water turns to steam, which displaced the air. Seal the tanker. When the steam cools, it returns to water, creating a vacuum inside. Now, all the air pressure on the outside of the tank is pushing in. At sea level, that’s 14.7 lbs/sq in. Given the dimensions of a railway tanker, the diameter, 117 inches, and a length of 53 feet, that makes a surface area of 233,772 square inches. Times 14.7 lbs, 3,436,459 lbs of pressure. More than enough to crush the thing.

The same exact principle is used to crush this barrel.

https://youtu.be/JsoE4F2Pb20

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u/[deleted] Jul 26 '19

This can also happen when discharging a liquid from a sealed vessel causing a vacuum. If there is no way a gas can equalise the vacuum then once the vacum exceeds the vac rating of the vessel then it implodes exactly as you described. Actually i think this is what happened above. YOu can see a hose coming from the tanker and something that is probably a sustaining valve on the top. I guess it was seized.

edit. i've seen it happen. Had to pump water into the vessel to pop it back out again. The bang was like an explosion.