this post was submitted on 01 Mar 2024
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Not really. Hindenburg had hydrogen at air pressure.
Pressurised hydrogen tends to fail in a much safer way (or just not fail). A regular fossil fuel car fire is much worse.
The thing is you're not just burning hydrogen (or gas). You're also burning oxygen in the atmosphere and how bad the fire is depends how the gas mixes with the oxygen. The mix has to be just right or it won't burn at all (Hindenburg was just right).
Gasoline tends to burn quite slowly which is particularly catastrophic as it generates heat over a long time which causes everything else in the car to also catch fire, while still burning fast enough that you might not be able to escape the car before it the fire gets dangerous.
I don't know enough about hydrogen to know how big of a bang that would even make.
I've edited my comment - it has been tested extensively and they're not very bad at all.
Thanks, that's actually really comforting to know. It's not something I've had reason to read into. So I'm glad somebody has
As someone who works in the hydrogen space, this is something we're always considering too. We're very aware that hydrogen explodes, and it's a core facet of our safety analyses.
I think we should make a show about our various theories about a big bang. I propose we call it The Big Bang Theory.
I’ll see myself out.
Please do, and don't let the door hit you on the way. LOL.
I read somewhere that with the Hindinburg, the hydrogen pretty much just went straight up, while most of the deaths and burns were caused by the fuel for the engines.