> This falls under the category of YMMV, but if you know about engines you
know that gasoline vapors and oxygen will only combust when they are close the
the proper mixture of one to the other. (Which of course is why carburetor
tuning is so critical to an engine's performance.) So too much oxygen or not
enough oxygen, and no combustion. That's not to say that you won't be the
lucky person whose tank hits the mixture just right.
"Close" is a relative term. There are a number of factors that mandate
the ideal stoichiometric ratio of air to fuel in an internal
combustion gasoline engine. The ability to make an air/gasoline
mixture ignite rapidly (not a true explosion, I understand), OTOH, is
a lot less stringent. On a related topic, I recall in my lost youth
seeing people remove dents from the gas tanks of their poor abused
Jeeps by pulling the tank, dumping out the gas, putting back a very
small amount, leaving in the sun for a short period, then tossing a
match at the filler tube. Very dramatic and effective results, but not
for the faint of heart.
David L
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