Cellphone Can Destroy Gas Stations?

Filed Under Movies/Books

I was able to catch one of my favorite shows in Discovery Channels called MythBusters. Originally it was only Adam and Jamie but lately, they already added equally intelligent and wacky assistants that help the in carrying out investigations on various urband legends. The purpose always is to prove or disprove a myth scientifically.
Interestingly, the team decided to investigate on whether a cellphone can really cause an explosion when used while filling on a gas station or when you are in an immediate vicinity of a gas station. I guess all netizens have received at least one email about it and the story has been around for almost a decade already. Actually, a lot of people thought that it was really true. The story (or myth) has been very compelling that the Philippine legislators passed a law against using cellphone on gas stations. Though the law is largely ignored, it still shows how easy our legislators be fooled. Actually, some of them jumped on the idea just to get extra media mileage even if the story is just a hoax!
So let’s go back to the Mythbusters. As always, the group tested the myth using the exact scenario described in the story.As expected, nothing blew up when the cellphone was called. Since the team are true men of science, they didn’t stop on that but instead experimented on various combinations all with calling the cellphone which is at the center of a closed plexiglass chamber. Realizing that they won’t be able to replicate the supposed explosion, they finally decided to install an electrical device that creates sparks. Well, it really did the trick because as soon as Adam clicked the switch, an explosion occured and the chamber was cut in half.
Though the myth is technically busted as cellphone does not produce electrical sparks, the experiments proved that gasoline is flammable. We should always be careful whenever we deal with gasoline. On one of the interviews, Adam said that it took them 4 days to complete the experiment. That’s all for the name of science.
And as always, the duo finished the show by telling their fans not to try this experiment at home, or for that matter any other that they so brilliantly perform before the cameras.

You can catch them in Discovery channel and in their website.