So, in Panic Room, when the bad guys are pumping propane into the safe room...

[Orrex]

Jodie tells her daughter to get down on the floor and then throws a fire blanket over her. Then Jodie ignites the incoming propane with a lighter, setting off the tank outside the panic room and generally disrupting the bad guys' plan. In the course of this, we see a blue firestorm raging near the ceiling of the panic room before the air circulators suck it outside.

Questions: Isn't propane heavier than air? Wouldn't ducking down on the floor guarantee that you'll inhale more of the gas?

[flvegan]

1. Revelations like this are why we can't have nice things.

[Taitertots]

4. Revelations like this are why I can't watch Hollywood movies

Too many people doing things that would surely kill them are saved by the the things that should kill them.

[kentauros]

2. I've never seen the movie, but to answer your question,

yes, it is.

It would also have created an explosion inside of the "panic room" being an enclosed space, too. At the very least they should have had eardrum damage. The propane tank on the outside would have been a quick explosion, rupturing the tank and shredding the metal as well as anyone close.

If you can find it, there was an old NOVA program done in the early 80s on the use of hydrogen as a fuel. In order to show the inherent safety of compressed hydrogen tanks, they set up a tank of compressed propane with an ignition source nearby and got a sharpshooter with armor-piercing bullets to pop a hole in the tank. You didn't get to see much time between hole, ignition and a disintegrated propane tank. The same test with the hydrogen tank made this wonderful high-pitched hiss and then the blow-torch effect as the gas lit up and no explosion. By the time the gas pressure was low enough inside the hydrogen tank for the flame to get inside and flame out, there wasn't enough gas left to cause an explosion.

I'd love to find that video again because it really points out the differences in actual safety versus fearful perceptions :)

[krispos42]

3. If it was propane, it would sink in still air

However, if it was natural gas it would rise.

Not sure about the explosion potential... there might not have been enough gas in the room yet for there to be a *boom*, instead it might simply have gone *woosh*.

There was also apprantly some kind of air circulation thing going on as well, although I doubt the ventilation system would be THAT powerful.

I saw the movie last year on DVD, and that part caught my eye as well.

Quick, turn on the "Mythbusters" light!