The first is defiantly not true, as its an oxidizer and combustible compound. Some types of gun powder such as cordite and black powder are actually rated as low order high explosives by law and require special lockers if not bunkers depending on quantity for storage.
The second is true in most conditions, but if atomized correctly, gasoline has more explosive power than Dynomite. Luckily its not common /hard for it to get that finely atomized.
The intent of my remarks was to illustrate that oxygen should not be handled lightly. Literally everyone knows, if no more than TV westerns, that gun powder is dangerous. And "gasoline on a fire" is a common colloquial expression. Free air is 21% oxygen. As a smoker, I am well aware that in free air, tobacco smolders. In an oxygen rich environment, tobacco will burn with a flame. The output of my O2 generator, 95%+, will cause tobacco to flare up when lit.
When I worked in the "Pipe Shop", a foundry, O2 was fed into the cupolas. During a reline when workers were inside the cupola, an oxygen valve was leaking. When a worker lit a smoke outside, their clothes flared up, and one worker was badly burned, class 3 burns. This inside a refractory lining that when in use had a high temperature, ~3000F, that melted iron. The only flammables during the reline were the men relining the cupola.
When employed by Leeds & Northrup, oxygen was used in the machines that made thermocouples. Part of the process was to bend glass tubes in an inverted "U" shape. O2 and natural gas. . . A small flame, but if there was a leak there was a flare on the back side of the machine. Fortunately the operators were not in direct line of a leak, but it would frighten an entire section when it happened. Production went down the tubes for the rest of the day.
Oxygen itself is not flammable. But, it does support combustion. So much so that oil on an O2 fitting is literally an explosion hazard. Any combustable material that comes in contact with O2 and a source of ignition can go from smoldering to mild explosion. Cloth will "saturate" with oxygen and although no longer in an oxygen rich environment, will burn quickly when brought into contact with a source of ignition. re. The cupola reliners above.
I have had training for Oxy/Acet torches. Acetylene use has decreased radically since OSHA came along. Acetylene alone is an explosion hazard above a certain, very low, pressure. Just lighting a torch indicates how much O2 affects combustion. But acetylene is still necessary for the extremely high flame temperature. I don't use acetylene any more, mostly H2, propane, and natural gas. But these gasses still use oxygen for the high temperature flame. Don't trifle with O2, it is
as dangerous as explosives.
EDIT: An afterthought| 1987, working in a mini-mill (steel), there was a major construction job going on. An outside laborer, not a mill hand, was connecting a jack hammer. Instead of air, he got on oxygen. When he pulled the trigger, the jack hammer struck twice, the second time it went through the roof. One of those once in a lifetime situations. . . A line down the side of the building had an old connector. He wasn't hurt badly, just a scratch on his hand as the hammer went aloft. But he will never forget. Nobody knows what happened to the jack hammer
.
