Another one of my teachers
Managed this little effort some years ago.

You know how sometimes, if you can't get a bonfire started, you might add a bit of petrol to get things started? This guy did. However, he decided to take it one step further. He built a 9ft high bonfire and coated it in several gallons.

Of Diesel.

The thing with diesel is that it only burns in vapour form. Basically, light, wait, explosion.

And he knew this.

He threw a match toward the fire, then turned and ran like hell.

I'm told he got behind a wall about twenty yards away with seconds to spare. The fireball launched bits of burning wood hundreds of metres and destroyed a fair bit of the wall he was hiding behing with flying lumps of tree.
( MatJ LOOK, Wed 18 Feb 2009, 1:01, 3 replies)

It's
exactly the same as petrol to an extent. Petrol only burns in vapour form too.

The difference with diesel is that it actually burns more slowly than petrol, and is a far safer and less volatile substance. It's certainly not explosive unless it's under pressure, and even then it will take more pressure to ignite it than it would to similarly ignite petrol.

The upshot is that if your teacher had used petrol, the effect would have been far worse.
( rubberduck should only be used after consulting with your GP, Wed 18 Feb 2009, 7:20, closed)

I can vouch for that...
I learned 2 things in the army:

1. when your zippo lighter runs out of petrol, don't dangle it on a thread into the fuel tank of your landrover. Diesel does not make good lighter fuel.

2. Roll barrels of diesel over a cliff, and watch the fireworks.
( Piper Alpha is being a grumpy northerm bastard on:, Wed 18 Feb 2009, 7:58, closed)

Of all the people who I'd thought would be careful with oil
I'd have thought someone called "Piper Alpha" would come pretty high on the list...
( uberdeity Wondered why Owen Lars knew of the term "hell" on, Wed 18 Feb 2009, 9:26, closed)