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Mythbusters - Cell Phone Destruction
This segment of Mythbusters focuses on combustion. Specificially, is using a cell phone enough to initiate the combustion of gasoline, resulting in a fire or explosion at a gas station? The answer is no, as there is a level of activation energy needed to initate combustion that simply is not present in the electromagnetic emissions of a cell phone. The Mythbusters do learn that the most common cause of gas station fires is static electricity discharge from people exiting their car.
Episode: Season 1, Episode 2 "Cell Phone Destroys Gas Station"
Essential Concepts: Chemical reactions, combustion, activation energy.
Answer key: Included in the chemistry instructor resources subscription. Click here for details.
