The Non-ideal Explosion

Courtesy of: larvalsubjects.files.wordpress.com

As we all know from Guy-Lussac's law, as temperature increases, pressure also increases. If the volume is held constant (as is the case here) then the pressure would reach a point at which it exerts a force greater than those holding the atoms of the container together (in this case the container is made out of mostly carbon, hydrogen and oxygen). The result of that is an explosion. One must also consider the non-ideality of this situation because we can only assume an ideal gas when the pressure is low which is clearly not the case here. Such non-idealities has the effect of increasing the force of explosion.

Then there is time. If one adds pressure at an infinitely small rate, then one can assume quasi-equilibrium conditions. However, time is not infinite (as shown by Stephen Hawking) and nor can one add pressure at said infinitely small rate. Thus in reality, there is no way of stopping this explosion.

Measures that one can take to control this explosion include:
i) expanding the container size (unfortunately that is not a very viable option since the atoms bond in such a way that the container is very rigid and brittle);
ii) slowing the rate of pressure addition by adding a valve (designing such a valve may prove difficult as the geometry of the entrance to the container is rather peculiar);
iii) removing pressure source (this is a good short term solution to give time for the system to try and establish equilibrium but not a viable long term solution as the pressure source is intrinsically attached to the container).