Does using a cell phone in a gas station cause a fire/blast?

Question

A self-proclaimed "very intelligent person" told me that operating a cell phone or speaking on the cell phone causes a fire/causes the car to burst in flames.

Is this true?

Answer 1

Gasoline is very volatile. The concentration of gasoline in air at which flammability (explosion) can occur is very possible in a gas station. This makes up two of the three sides of the fire triangle (air and fuel). The cellphone is capable of producing a static discharge this is the third side (heat) .  The three sides of the fire triangle may be present. Ignition is possible.  

Does it happen a lot? No. But it is possible. Defiantly.

Answer 2

Gary, you are off a bit.

The problem is in the RF energy emitted by the cell phone. Under certain rare conditions, you can get a spark in some wiring inside the pump, where there is usually gasoline vapor. Or wiring inside you tank of your car.

Remember how pre-tube transmitters and receivers worked? Via a tuned circuit and a spark gap. Put RF energy into a tuned circuit, and you can cause a spark to jump a wire gap.

The scenario requires that some wiring inside the pump form a resonant circuit at the frequency of the cell phone, and that resonant circuit absorbs the cell phone energy and causes a spark, and boom!

Which is why the Myth Busters experiment was meaningless. The spark doesn't occur in the cell phone, but in some other wiring.

Small chance, I grant you, but a chance.

.

Answer 3

According to snopes.com, any incidents of fires in gas stations related to cell phones are unproven.

Answer 4

Yes.  Every time they are used they blow up the station.  That is why you don't see many gas stations any more.

The proof is in the reality...

Answer 5

I just had an ESD (electrostatic discharge) protection training course.  In that course we saw two security/surveillance videos of gasoline pumps at normal gasoline stations/convenience stores.  In each case the person was filling their tank in a normal manner and as they turned their cell phones on coincidentally the gas nozzle caught fire.

Granted this is anecdotal evidence, but it does indicate it is possible for it to happen.

The course instructor went on to say that in both cases the fire department investigations stated that the sole cause of the fire was ESD caused by transmission from a cell phone.

Even a nano-Joule spark could cause vapors to ignite under the proper conditions.  Those 'proper' conditions are hard to come-by for such a small energy, though.

.

Answer 6

Usually, no.

There are two things that are need in this case -- fule vapor, and a spark.

Now, the cell phone has a battery, but it does not spark -- unless you remove it from teh phone case, in which case it COULD spark.  But you don't do that while you're talking.

Second, the concentration of fuel vapor needs to be very high. But since you fill up outside, that is not likely to happen.  The wind just blows the vapor away.

It would be very very unlikely that a cell phone would cause an explosion.

A show on TV called Mythbusters covered this.  They made a plastic box, put a cell phone in it, filled it with gasoline vaopr, then called the phone.

Nothing.

it is MUCH mopre importatn that you turn off your car.

Note, though, that cell phones CAN affect medical equipment, so you need to make sure that your cell phone is turned OFF in a hospital or doctor office.

Answer 7

No