Properties of Natural Gas:
Natural gas is colorless,
odorless, tasteless, shapeless and lighter than air with a specific gravity of
about 0.6-0.8. It is gaseous at any temperature over -161º C. When it is at its
natural state, it is not possible to see or smell natural gas. For safety
reasons, a chemical odorant that smells a little like rotten eggs, Mercaptan,
is added to natural gas so that it can be smelled if there is a gas leak.
Methane is highly flammable, burns easily
and almost completely, while it emits very little air pollution. Natural gas is
neither corrosive nor toxic, its ignition temperature is high, and it has a
narrow flammability range, making it an inherently safe fossil fuel compared to
other fuel sources. It is inflamed during a range of 5-15% by volume of gas in
air. The self-ignition Temperature of natural gas is 537-540 Celsius degrees.
In addition, because of its specific gravity of 0.60, lower than that of air
(1.00), natural gas rises if escaping, thus dissipating from the site of
