Mythbusters - Air Cylinder Rocket

Many respiratory therapists I have known have expended innumerable hours advising people to be cautious about oxygen cylinders in their homes. A disappointingly high number of people don't understand that a compressed gas cylinder with a broken regulator becomes in essence a torpedo.

For this demonstration the Mythbusters set up a track to aim the cylinder at a concrete block wall. In real life a broken cylinder might spin in a room like a whirling dervish, breaking the ankles of anyone nearby. If you keep cylinders of compressed air, welding gas, oxygen, etc. in your home or workplace, be sure to secure them to the wall.