[Ads-l] Toxic leak

[victor steinbok]

That's a fair observation, although the video is helpful here. Rupture of
pressurized tanks, especially industrial size ones, is often referred to as
"explosion". Here, you have rapid decompression of a pressurized tank
caused by sudden heavy impact (vertical fall), resulting in a shock wave
and spread of toxic substance. Because of a shock wave, I would call it an
explosion. Explosion is ostensibly a mechanical event, even though it is
often a product of a chemical reaction. I'm less concerned about the
explosion aspect than the leak.

VS

On Tue, Jun 28, 2022, 14:33 Dan Goncharoff <thegonch at gmail.com> wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Dan Goncharoff <thegonch at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: Toxic leak
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> As far as I know, chlorine doesn't explode. Something else must have
> exploded, sending the chlorine outward. So it is possible to have both an
> explosion and a leak caused by the explosion.
>

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org