"mm" wrote in message
news
OT During the pirating stories, one of them said gunfire on an oil
tanker could result in an explosion? Don't they only carry crude oil
and is it flammable?

Crude oil IS flammable, but you have to get it going. Like diesel. You can
toss a burning piece of paper into a tank of diesel, and it won't light.
It's the vapors that light. Everything has a temperature of ignition.
Other things have IIRC, an explosive level, meaning that they produce enough
aromatic vapors that even an electrostatic spark will ignite them. A lot of
military shells especially, have tracers in them that have a high
temperature, and certainly the rocket propelled greneades the pirates are
fond of will cause a fire. Small arms gunfire is not LIKELY to cause an
explosion, but there's a small chance. The larger the bullets, or when you
get into explosives, YES, they are LIKELY to cause fire but then not always,
either. Crude comes in all types, from thin to thick, and with all sorts of
stuff mixed in there that is refined out. Most all of it will burn at one
temperature or another.