Here are two
photos of a tank car
that collapsed under ordinary air pressure — emphasizing the
importance
of the barometric pressure! The exact explanation is not
known to
this writer, however, there two plausible possibilities come
to mind:
(1) A sealed tanker may have contained a gas that condenses to
liquid
when it gets cold (for example, sulfur dioxide, bp –10
oC). If
the tanker contained liquid sulfur dioxide which was then
drained and
sealed, the tanker would contain sulfur dioxide vapors that
would
condense to a liquid if the temperature dropped below –10 oC;
or (2) If
water were added to a tanker containing a water-soluble gas
under
conditions whereby air could not enter the tanker fast enough
to
equilibrate the pressure inside the tanker with the
atmospheric
pressure, the tanker could collapse. This could happen
if the
water were added via a hose threaded to the tanker creating a
“closed
system” in terms of air pressure. See the ammonia fountain
experiment.
