Gasoline fires can be horrific incidents, but there’s something funny about the lengths to which some people will go when working with fuel. One Daytona Beach, Fla., man gave himself second degree burns, and all because he thought it was a good idea to replace his car’s gasoline tank with a plastic gas can – then move the can to a space under the hood, next to the engine. Only the truth could possibly be so bizarre. There is a comparable sentiment when it comes to the hokey old story that mobile phones cause gasoline pump fires. Has this ever happened, or is it merely an urban legendintended to frighten hapless motorists?
Cell phones and gas pumps – blazing inaccuracy
According to urban legend investigative site Snopes.com, it is a myth that cellular phones cause gas pump fires. Cell phone manuals may have some token verbiage on the subject, but for probably the most part, Snopes has found that there is no hard science behind the idea that cellular signals cause gasoline pump fires. Scientifically, it sounds possible – that the operation of an electronic gadget could cause a static charge via electromagnetic waves that could ignite gasoline – but there have been no verifiable cases that ever occurring at a gas station. You will nevertheless want to avoid using your phone around sensitive hospital and air traffic control equipment, but the gas pump warning appears toothless. As far as Snopes.com can tell, rumors of explosions in China and Indonesia stemmed from old Internet yarns dating back to 1999, rather than actual events. Years later, “Mythbusters” burned the whole story to the ground.
Shell Oil’s ‘official’ communiqué
A group claiming to be the Shell Oil Company circulated a warning in June 2002. . The erroneous claim made in the e-mail message is that all a cellular phone has to do is ring to emit an EM pulse powerful enough to ignite gasoline fumes in the air (for instance those produced at the gas pump). When cell and car batteries both have the conserve voltage rating, vehicle batteries provide significantly more current. One story about cell phones sending a brief 100-volt surge also seems to be false, a fabrication of the phone company during the height of their war with new cellular corporations .
Shell Oil later denied ever having issued such a warning message.
Protection from a non-threat
Gasoline tanks don’t blow because of mobile phone signals. So talk on your phone at the pump if you need to, but pay enough attention to what you’re doing so that you don’t douse yourself in gasoline.
Discover more data on this subject
Daytona Beach News-Journal
news-journalonline.com/breakingnews/2010/08/manu-using-gas-can-as-fuel-tank-suffers-burns.html
Snopes
snopes.com/autos/hazards/gasvapor.asp
