Well this guy is a clown. First off he doesn’t realize that the MSDS sheet will be the same everywhere for vinyl chloride. It’s a standardized system used worldwide, in the United States the authority who oversees the MSDS, now called SDS or Safety Data Sheet is OSHA. So strike one for this guy…
Insulting someone is anything but a good form of argument. Obviously something triggered you on an emotional level because what you point out is NO MAJOR ISSUE. I'm not going to waste the time looking for this, but someone did notice that the EPA changed certain chemical classification documentation a short time before the accident happened. Was it a coincidence ? Who knows, I'm no God. However we do have an excellent example of how the definition of pandemic and vaccine was conveniently changed at the right time to "help the people'.
There is no
"strike" here. The man stated in the video that he
would have liked to see how the sheet changed, as it does seem interesting that
modification occurred on Feb. 7 2023, a day after the burn (Feb. 6th). He didn't saying anything
about other MSDS sheets out there.
It looks to me like you are putting words in his mouth.
Next he talks about vinyl chloride combustion, he even shows the products of the combustion but then somehow adds in dioxins. Now combustion breaks things down, so how you can go from a 6 atom molecule of vinyl chloride to an incredibly complex molecule like dioxin through combustion is beyond me. If you burn PVC, sure because it’s a polymer, but not vinyl chloride…. So strike two for Mr. Chemistry.
I'll take the high road.
You make a sweeping statement that combustion breaks things
down so there is
no way for complex molecules such as dioxins to form from vinyl chloride.
Well first of all there isn't a single "dioxin" molecule. Depending on burn conditions and chemicals present different types of dioxins may form.
"Dioxin" is a term for a family of persistent chemicals (i.e., substances that do not break down chemically or break down very slowly) that are created through various natural and synthetic processes including incineration, forest fires, metal smelting and certain industrial operations involving chlorine and other organic compounds. Because chlorine can be found almost everywhere on earth (e.g. in salt), dioxin will be formed when most things burn, including wood, food, garbage and vinyl.
We certainly do have
chlorine. It is found in
VINYL CHLORIDE. To get the more complex poly form we can do it through the process of
polymerization using heat. In your rush to judgment or nit picking you missed where he mentioned this. Screen capture from video at 8:39 min mark.
"The word polymer comes from the Greek "poly" (many) and "mer" (part). Therefore, a polymer is a compound with many parts. In reality, a polymer is a long-chained molecule composed of many smaller parts called monomers ("mono" is Greek for one). Monomers, however, are able to hook together into long chains of hundreds or thousands of parts. Such hooking is called polymerization.
In polymerization, monomers - which have double bonds - are broken down by heat or chemical reaction to single bonds. The single bonds attach to each other creating the self-reaction, which in turn creates the long chained polymer. This reaction usually takes place in a reactor vessel in a chemical plant under controlled conditions. But it can also take place during transportation or in storage, creating a hazard for emergency responders."
So that vinyl chloride in those tanks could be
polymerized during that "uncontrolled burn", to form among others
polyvinyl chloride and this in turn producing dioxins.
So him including dioxins
as a potential byproduct of a
"uncontrolled burn" seems not so far fetched.
We don't know what was formed in that soot filled cloud resulting from the "uncontrolled burn".
EPA/Norfolk will let us know ? EPA has wasted nearly two weeks hoping that whatever was produced from the burn would be blown off, washed off or forgotten.
From your post above you seem to be under the impression that those hopper cars full of polyvinyl
did not catch on fire.
As far as the manifest, I mentioned it in my post above. The car that the wheel bearing blew up on was a hopper car full of plastic pellets, there were 3 more of those hopper cars and then 4 tanker cars full of vinyl chloride. It could have been much worse if those plastic pellet cars caught on fire and then caused the vinyl chloride tanks to explode, thankfully that didn’t happen.
Well you are wrong, they did catch on fire.
From my post above we have this from the EPA,
And what happened ?
Nothing. The fire department put out the fires, leaving a few that were due to leaks.
Definitely not the
"much worse" situation that you were predicting if it did.
By the way, that's the additional source of possible dioxins that EPA didn't bother to test for before letting people back !!!!
It is obvious that dioxin formation occurred at temperatures above 450'C and was reduced significantly at temperatures above 850 degrees C. The reaction occurring in an incinerator is extremely complex, and there are many factors in addition to combustion temperature influencing dioxin formation. Even though it is possible to hypothesize reasonable formation mechanisms of dioxins produced in exhaust gases according to the results obtained from experiments in classical chemistry, the reactions involved in an incinerator are extremely complex and heterogeneous. More detailed investigation of the many individual factors influencing dioxin formation is needed to find ways to reduce their formation in individual and municipal incinerators.
So then he dons his white lab coat to give us all a lecture on thermodynamics…. Instead of focusing on the possible polymerization of the vinyl chloride, which was the explosive hazard, he instead talks about the Joule Expansion, which has zero bearing upon the problem. But then, for anyone
Putting on a lab coat is an issue. Give Me A Break !!!!
Thermodynamics is exactly the science that needs to be discussed as it plays a big role in what was happening there. It may explain why after initially being in a huge conflagration the tank cars did not explode.
After the large fires were out, for 3 days there was no explosion. That is where he was going with the discussion of thermodynamics. His point was that the tank cars were cooled due to the gas expansion, thus greatly diminishing the chance of an explosion. I'd say that's rather important to understand.
If you disagree then prove he's wrong.
who has dealt with explosives…. He just makes the dumbest comment possible. “I’m not sure a bomb could have initiated it”. Which yes, a bomb could always initiate vinyl chloride. So strike 3, the guy should just stick to his day job of raising daffodils….
That's his
opinion.
But then you seem to be sure of everything in this situation.
So why no BIG BOOM on the day of derailment ? The place looked like Hell on fire.
There’s more, but that’s enough. Add in the background music of constant doom and it’s no wonder people fall for this crap.
At least he took the time to gather information and present it in a clear form. Because the music is a bit dramatic doesn't change the facts in his presentation.
In the end, it's his presentation and he has a right to present it anyway he likes it. Don't like it, move on, but at least the man is offering a detailed explanation of why the decision on Feb. 6th was the wrong one.