Question

In research or teaching labs you can find cylinders of compressed gas, which means that a lot of gas is packed into a very tiny container. These cylinders are often strapped to the wall more than once, and with a cap on. Why do they require such safety precautions?

Answer 1

Gas cyllinders in the lab are safely put against walls with a harness. Often more than one cyllinder is placed at one position. We require to put safety on these cyllinders like caping and harnessing as we do not want the cyllinders to fall off from upright position. The risk of falling could be developing cracks or breaking of cyllinder and since the gases inside it are kept at high pressure they might explode. Some gases which are combustible like H2 will catch fire immediately upon exposure and would be fatal accident. To avoid potential accidents the cyllinders are carefully kept strapped on the wall.