Styrofoam and static electricity 1

[mobster1930]

Can styrofoam as a material be used in rooms where particles of initial explosive are floating in air? Can styrofoam cause an explosion in that space because of eventual static electricity in it (in styrofoam) ?

 

[MikeHalloran]

Styrene is an excellent dielectric, so yes it can hold a charge, and no, you don't want it anywhere near explosives.



Mike Halloran
Pembroke Pines, FL, USA

 

[MiketheEngineer]

KA-BOOM!! - MH is right

 

[ornerynorsk]

The bigger problem may be the particulate matter floating in the air. So you remove expanded styrene as a possible incidental ignition source, chances are you've got a hundred others.

It is better to have enough ideas for some of them to be wrong, than to be always right by having no ideas at all.

 

[KENAT]

Don't use Styrofoam around explosives.

It may be fine in 'damp' conditions but get it somewhere hot - like say Saudi Arabia - and you can get a considerable amount of static.

(This is based on a real life incident.)

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