Hacker News Reader

Comment by Jugurtha | Hacker News Reader

>New York’s attorney general is investigating the death of a 29-year-old man who was badly burned when he was shot with a stun gun after dousing himself with hand sanitizer during an altercation with police officers, officials said on Thursday.

This is strange. What kind of hand sanitizer was that, if it was in fact hand sanitizer ? The alcohol content is really low and evev if you light the thing directly, most of the content is not flammable.

View on HN

Are you sure about that? Most hand sanitizer I've seen is more than 50% alcohol. Here's a MSDS I found for a common brand: http://sds.staples.com/msds/320863.pdf (they claim > 50%, <= 70%).

I've definitely seen people burning hand sanitizer as well. Here's a random YouTube video (there are thousands): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8KZ3JviMNFc

I think early during the pandemic we were generally given advice to find 80% or better. Pretty much straight alcohol plus a little bit of stuff to make it gel-like or smell nice or whatever.

Huh? Hand sanitizer is recommended to be at least 60% alcohol, that easily burns.

Does it? Other commenters are saying that 70% stuff doesn’t light even with an open flame. Maybe it’s what’s in the nonalcoholic remainder that makes the difference?

According to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flamb%C3%A9 , even a 40% ethanol solution is ignitable.

"Cognac, rum, or other flavorful liquors that are about 40% alcohol (80 USA proof) are considered ideal for flambé. ... High-alcohol liquors, such as Bacardi 151 or Everclear, are highly flammable and considered too dangerous by professional cooks."

The recommendation from the FDA seems to be that hand sanitizer needs to be at least 60% alcohol.

I work daily with 70% ethanol for sanitizing, and 95% ethanol for cleaning. I can never get the 70% stuff to light. Even with an open flame.

By the way, most hand sanitizer is around 70% or less. Above 70% and it doesn't kill bacteria as well.

Covering your hand in hand sanitizer and lighting it on fire to pretend you're the Human Torch is something I thought pretty much every teenager did.

Why don't you put some hand sanitizer in a dish and light it? Then decide if you want to edit your post.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com