2 killed, 9 hurt in Texas oil field explosion

[jmowreader]

4. Yes. Several people have, in fact.

Solar panel manufacturers use a chemical called silane (SiH4).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silane

Silane is Nasty Ass Shit (tm). It's flammable. Worse, it auto ignites upon contact with air. It's corrosive. A poison gas. And has caused several industrial accidents-with-loss of life.

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/explosive-gas-silane-used-to-make-photovoltaics/

"Of all the toxic or reactive molecules that [solar] industry uses, silane has been involved in 10 fatalities in the last 20 years. All the others put together, it's been zero," says retired chemical engineer Eugene Ngai, president of a specialty gas safety consultancy and a silane expert. "Where I have a concern is in the photovoltaic industry…. PV could be in a light industry zone, it could be close to residential areas."

Crude oil and natural gas are hazardous materials but you've got to do something to cause them to ignite...and methane isn't even a poisonous gas - it's a "simple asphyxiant." (This means it kills you by displacing oxygen. Quite a few gases are simple asphyxiants.) Silane will go out of its way to fuck you up.