In article ,
Mr G H Ireland wrote:

In article , Don Bruder
wrote:

(Note 1/ASCII art)
An acetylene (C2H2) molecule - Each "/", and "\" is a molecular bond,
the "=" is the double-bond. C is a carbon atom, H is a hydrogen atom:


H H
\ /
C=C
/ \
H H

When C2H2 deflagrates, it splits the double-bond, resulting in two CH2
molecules

Nearly right!

Acetylene is C2H2, O.K., but has a triple bond, containing LOTS of potential
energy, which is released when the triple bond breaks.


ASCII art
_
/ \
HC---CH
\_/

Aye...

I noticed that screwup when I started doing the "chemical math" to
figure out how much more O2 would be needed to run a torch on propane
rather than acetylene. Somewhere further down the line in the thread, I
posted nearly the same piece of corrected ASCII art. I think the initial
screwup came from my drawing the molecule, thinking "that doesn't look
right!", remembering that carbon has four valences to bond to, and then
"correcting" my original artwork to match that fact, forgetting that I
was drawing an acetylene molecule in the process. sigh Sometimes the
trees get in the way of the forest. Or is that the forest getting in the
way of the trees? Either way, a definite "screwed the pooch" on my part.

NO oxygen is needed, as you say.

Deflagration occurs when a decomposition reaction supplies enough heat to
maintain or accelerate the decomposition which cannot escape fast enough to
prevent the temperature of the system from increasing.

Yep. On the money.

--
Don Bruder - - If your "From:" address isn't on my whitelist,
or the subject of the message doesn't contain the exact text "PopperAndShadow"
somewhere, any message sent to this address will go in the garbage without my
ever knowing it arrived. Sorry... http://www.sonic.net/~dakidd for more info