Nancy Classics by Ernie Bushmiller for August 11, 2020
August 10, 2020
August 12, 2020
Transcript:
Sluggo: Why do gas trucks always have a chain dangling off the back? Nancy: That's to prevent an explosion. Sluggo: Gotta go to th' store---See ya later. Nancy: What's that? Sluggo: A can of fluid for my uncle's lighter. Truck reads: GASOLINE
The natural rubber on those old time vehicles was a better electrical insulator than what we have now and so a static charge would build up in the vehicle; surplus electrons, and like lightning in the sky will take the next convenient path to ground. The driver exiting the vehicle can be a ground link; woe be to that man who does not ground first. The dragging chain maintains continuous electron drain to ground. Modern tire formulations are much better for grounding a charge. Aircraft going through the air pick up electrons and getting out of one that can’t ground through its tires or some add on device can be fatal. As a kid in the sixties I remember seeing the dragging chains but didn’t know their significance until years later.