To ask a science question

[July2025july]

Ive googled and nothing answers it.

You know gas storage towers? If one was full and someone (somehow) managed to drop a match in it, would the gas ignite or would the pressure put the match out?

It would be very unlikely…they are sealed (in various ways) to prevent gas leakage

Well yes, no one is going to actually drop a match in but if they somehow managed to in a hypothetical world...?

Another question - Are gas towers still used?

It would make a very, very large hole in the ground and surrounding structures… if completely full probably for a good 500m+ in all directions.

They aren’t in usage for storage, and most gas holders have been demolished. The gas network has been updated so that demand can be satisfied without storage nowadays.

Even when in use, they were far more resilient and contained than that. They were bomb targets in WW2, which is the level of explosive required.

Love your question OP. Sort of thing I think about obsessively then spend the night googling!!! Looking forward to hearing from someone that can answer it!

You need a mixture of gas and air to burn, and there's only gas inside. If you made a hole in the top and lit it, you'd get a flame in proportion to the size of the hole, which would burn until the gas ran out or someone came and sealed the hole.

If it was filled with the right mixture of gas and air, then it would indeed take out the whole neighbourhood, but you'd have to be very unlucky for there to be that much air in.

Methane needs lots of air to make an explosive mixture.

You'd need to make a hole, let the air mix, then drop in the match.

Last two posters have it. Fire needs three things (the Fire Triangle) - fuel, oxygen and an ignition source. Your scenario of a match spontaneously appearing inside the tank only gives you two of the three requirements (fuel and ignition) so no Fire or explosion.

Making a hole in the tank and lighting your match beside it gives you a Fire at the site of the whole and a massive flamethrower, but until the pressure inside drops to a level where the air mixes with the gas inside, or the hole gets substantially bigger, there's no explosion.

No oxygen in the tower means the gas and the match won’t burn so no explosion.

I like the way you’ve worded this. It’s as if you’re giving the OP instructions on how to make sure her plan of blowing up a gas storage tower is a complete success

I wonder if your Google search history is as weird as mine OP 😂