Self-Ignition Chemical: Causes and Effects

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The discussion revolves around a burning sensation and skin irritation experienced by a boyfriend after a car ride, where a red mark resembling the size of a Zippo lighter appeared on his leg. The incident occurred while the lighter was in his pocket, which also had a gasoline smell. The mark developed into a blister and later peeled, leaving a pale red mark. Theories about the cause include a possible leak of butane or naptha from the lighter, which are known to irritate the skin, especially if overfilled. The conversation clarifies that Zippo lighters use naptha, not traditional gasoline, and emphasizes that even non-allergic individuals can experience skin burns from these substances. The quick evaporation of naptha may explain why the irritation was not immediately apparent. Additionally, the thin skin in the thigh area could have contributed to the severity of the reaction.
martine
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I guess this might be something chemical.

About 2 weeks ago my boyfriend and me were driving somewhere. Suddenly he screemed out, saying his leg was burning. On the next parking place we noticed a red mark on his leg approximately the size of his zippo lighter, which was in his pocket right on top of that mark and his trowsers had a soft gasoline smell. In the evening that mark was redder with a blister in the middle, everything peeled after a few days and now there's only a pale red mark left.

What might have happened here?

I guess we can exclude self-ignition here. My bf's not allergic to gasoline on his skin. Could he have produced an acid from some sweat (was a hot day and car without airco), the metal of the lighter and some static electricity (he's always somewhat charged :eek: )? But what about the gasoline smell? His trowsers were not damaged.

I'm curious with what you can come up :)

Martine
 
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martine said:
I guess this might be something chemical.

About 2 weeks ago my boyfriend and me were driving somewhere. Suddenly he screemed out, saying his leg was burning. On the next parking place we noticed a red mark on his leg approximately the size of his zippo lighter, which was in his pocket right on top of that mark and his trowsers had a soft gasoline smell. In the evening that mark was redder with a blister in the middle, everything peeled after a few days and now there's only a pale red mark left.

What might have happened here?

I guess we can exclude self-ignition here. My bf's not allergic to gasoline on his skin. Could he have produced an acid from some sweat (was a hot day and car without airco), the metal of the lighter and some static electricity (he's always somewhat charged :eek: )? But what about the gasoline smell? His trowsers were not damaged.

I'm curious with what you can come up :)

Martine

This news article sums it up pretty much... I guess the same kida thing happened, except on a smaller scale. :biggrin:

God made an appearance at the West Oaks Mall yesterday. It wasn't his intention to be noticed, but the bright blue aura was hard to miss. In a bizarre twist, all who witnessed the event were killed. So were all reporting on it. When asked why he felt so wrathy, God said, "Jesus, can't I have a little fun around here?"
Jesus was not available for comment.
 
I'm guessing the butane in his lighter might have leaked out and caused a skin irritation.
 
gravenewworld said:
I'm guessing the butane in his lighter might have leaked out and caused a skin irritation.
Yeah, that happened to one of my friends. He felt a burning kind of sensation he said. The "axe incident" (axe is a spray on deodorant, main ingrediants; alchohol and butane)
 
He didn't say anything about marks though...
 
Read...
Its about a Zippo lighter, uses a form of gasoline.

If had this as well, it happens when you overfill your zippo.
The mark is caused by the gasoline.
It doesn't matter if your not alergic to gasoline, it's nasty enough to burn your skin.
If he's using the special zippo fluid its even worse, that stuff is pretty nasty if your skin is exposed to it to long.
 
...just wanted to clarify...

Zippo's use naptha, not gasoline. It's mainly pentanes and hexanes I think...Gasoline I believe are the higher carbon alkanes like the octanes and whatever.

Anyways, yeah, I guess it could be some kind of skin irritation. Although I've boiled naptha before and put my finger in it before to check out how hot it was (danger is my middle name). And I didn't get any burns or anything, but I did wipe it off...although I doubt there was much need to as it's so volatile to begin with. Anywho, the lighter was probably leaking the gas and it continually was being applied to the skin which caused some kind of irritation. Naptha evaporates quickly so by the time you checked most of it had already probably evaporated.

Ah.
 
And the skin around your theighs is quite thin
 

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