On Fri, 17 Oct 2003 03:18:57 GMT, Mark & Juanita
wrote:


How about the fact that self-serve gas stations in the other 47 states
aren't going up in impressive balls of flame with any regularity?


Discovery Channel's 'Mythbusters' just recently ran a show testing to
see if a cel phone could blow up a gas station [I've seen gas stations
that even have official looking signs 'turn phones off']. After
several failed attempts with both cel phones /and/ static sparks, they
found that it takes a REALLY exact mixture of oxygen and gas fumes to
spark a fire. And cel phones CANNOT start one, even under perfect
laboratory conditions.

They also found out that women are 8x more likely then men to get back
into the car while fueling, then spark a fire with static. But they
concluded that it would be a very rare occurence, because of the
precise mixture required to ignite from a static spark. They had to
use a high power leyden jar to set off their earlier tests.

Ironically, this came up on Oprah a few days later, where they made it
into an incredibly big deal. Some idiot 'expert' also said that it was
possible for cel phones to spark a fire. Guess which show more people
watch? This is just as bad as all the urban legends that wind up in
Dear Abby as 'true'...

Make sure you spread the word - cel phones will NOT blow up a gas
station.

Other random things: Tanning salons cannot microwave you, microwaves
won't 'explode' if metal is put into them, microwaves /can/ make
'explosive' water, but only if you use distilled, a penny dropped off
the Empire State Building won't kill anyone,