Petrochemical volatility
One of my dad's stories from his engineering days involved one of his tutors prising the lid off a full barrel of petrol in the lab and immediately throwing a match in. The petrol fumes hadn't had time to dissipate on contact with the air, so the match hit the liquid petrol and just went out. History does not reflect how many seconds' pause would have produced a different result.
( .Yeti. El amor en los tiempos del cólera, Thu 16 Aug 2012, 14:01, Reply)