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. . And all it would take to become yet another statistic would be for a motorist’s phone to simply ring within the presence of gasoline fumes. While the voltage on a cellular battery and the more powerful automobile battery are the exact same – 12 V – the current on cell batteries is much lower, and hence less dangerous. There was once a circulating claim that cell phones use “more than 100 volts,” but that appears to have been a rumor traced back to the traditional land-line telephone industry during the first phases of competition with the emerging cellular industry.
Shell Oil denied sending such a fake message.
Protection from a non-threat
Gas tanks do not blow because of cell phone signals. So talk on your phone at the pump if you have to, but pay enough attention to what you are doing so that you don’t douse yourself in gasoline.
Further reading
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
