JF Mezei wrote:

On 2016-10-18 11:11, Fred J. McCall wrote:

What is "COPV" ?


I said it in the original article and you cut it out. Composite
Overwrapped Pressure Vessel.

Sorry, had not made the association between the two. my bad.


TNT is a solid. Does it care about pressure? Yeah, press it and it
makes a really big bang.


yes, but TNT, in solid form is stable until you ignite. It doesn't
expand or create pressure in the lunch box that it us carried into.


Now try the same thing with dynamite or nitro.



No. Most substances are denser in their solid phases than their
liquid phases.


So the fact that some LOX solidified shouldn't magically cause an
increase in pressure in the tank.


No, pumping the tank full of LOX does that. Nothing magical.


Is it possible that the cold is what did it? If the helium tank was
surrounded by oxygen that it was colder than design, it could have
caused the carbon fibre to become brittle, crack, and let helium out,
causing overpressiure in LOX tank and then things went kablooey ?


No.


--
"Some people get lost in thought because it's such unfamiliar
territory."
--G. Behn