[QUOTE=phb;12655736]Re phones and gas stations.
Theoretically the phone may cause a spark. It's not the radiation or static, but the fact that there is an energy source which if shorted could create sufficient energy to ignite an explosive atmosphere.
But think about it folks. You are driving a car or bike onto the forecourt. It has a battery many times the capacity of the cell phone in your pocket, not to mention any number of potential electrical, chemical and mechanical souces of ignition. What's the biggest risk?
The real reason that cell phones are banned on forecourts is that EM radiation can interfere with weighing and measuring equipment, like that petrol pump.
I'd heard (from someone that works in a petrol station) that because phones are heavish (compared to, say, keys or coins) that if you drop one it may cause a spark which ignites any petrol lying about. Might be rubbish - but there's another theory for the pile!
(First three paragraphs are from phb - sorry dont know why they're not in a box ...)
Last edited by Murdoch; Oct 20, 2009 at 12:35 pm
Reason: ?