A chara, – Robin Heather (October 28th) is being somewhat overcautious in insisting that mobile phones should not be used around petrol pumps.
Such a device is simply not capable of generating sufficient power to create a spark with enough energy to cause ignition. This is why there has never been a proven incident of this kind anywhere in the world.
In fact, your correspondent would be more likely to cause an explosion by wearing nylon stockings while refuelling. Unfortunately his/her androgynous Christian name prevents me from surmising the relevance of this last piece of advice. – Is mise,
Dr GARETH P KEELEY
Department of Interface
Chemistry & Surface
Engineering, Max Planck
Institute for Iron Research,
Düsseldorf,
Germany.
Sir, – I was amused by Robin Heather’s outburst on the use of mobile phones near petrol pumps (October 28th). These do not spark, and even if they did it would be highly unlikely they would cause a fire or an explosion held to someone’s ear inside or outside their car. Vehicle fuels are quite difficult to set alight.
Also, for an explosion, an explosive mixture is necessary. At a filling station no such mixture exists, except perhaps in the free space within fuel tanks. The mechanism within the pumps is electrically driven and the air is full of electromagnet radiation arising from radio and TV broadcasts and signals from cellphone masts. Surely, with or without cellphones operating, these would be enough to set fuel alight, if there was ever any danger of that.
The true reason for the notices advising against the use of cellphones is that these might interfere with the electronics in the pumps, resulting in incorrect quantities being measured or delivered. – Yours, etc,
TERENCE
HOLLINGWORTH,
Impasse Chopin,
Blagnac, France.