I might have told this tale before...I have forgotten. I worked for Standard Oil at a marine terminal. The company put on a seminar on the safe handling of fuels, tank truck loading and static electricity. A large glass bell jar affair was filled with a atmosphere of fuel/air in the 15:1 ratio and a hefty static charge was fired across two electrodes to ignite the charge.
Much dinking around with the fuel/air mix was required before the whole shebang went off.
It was much more difficult to cause the explosion than the average person would have thought.
Stuart
