Incomplete Barrel Fill

And yet so many people think that it acts as one, and can't seem to understand the difference between a gas and a solid. I think whoever made up the term "blanket" for this needs to be given a noogie. Maybe even a wedgie. Blankets are, of course, not impermeable, but people hear the word and think it stops everything. Maybe because so many others describe it that way. "Cloud" would have been better I think.

 

Of the atomic variety.

I'm voting for "CO2 net", btw. Although blankets aren't impermeable, ever give someone a Dutch Oven? They're pretty good at keeping stuff under them.

 

Probably a fireman...http://www.fike.com/products/co2-fire-suppression-system/

 

In fairness to the manufacturer of this product, I do think in the very short term CO2 can form a layer that largely prevents oxygen from reaching an area. To repeat my earlier point, this is what happened at Lake Nyos. Gases mix quickly but not instantaneously, and if the blanket of carbon dioxide can last long enough to asphyxiate people, then it can probably last long enough to extinguish a fire. (I do wonder whether this product might accidentally asphyxiate people though!) As brewers we're just operating on a very different time scale.

If I were going to blame anyone, I would probably blame the companies that sell argon as a wine preservation system. It may work, but if it does, it works by displacing oxygen very briefly while the bottle is re-corked (at which point diffusion is much slower). Nevertheless, they tend to market their product as if argon forms some kind of impermeable layer over the wine.