Everyone in my office is wondering what this is all about. Can someone explain what this is?

http://www.ebaumsworld.com/video/watch/346889/

its a video of a tanker car imploding.
I hope this isnt a hoax or fake posting.

Well, I see a good sized hose running to the car, perhaps they just applied vacuum to put on a show. I DO know there has been tank cars accidently collapsed by improper cleaning procedure. They steam clean the inside, which, of course, heats up the inside of the tank and the air inside. Normally, all drains and vents are left open. If some one goofs, though, and closes the tank up, the contracting metal and air inside will collapse the tank.

Fred

The film has to be a demonstration of drawing a vacuum on an un-vented car. The collapse is removing more volume than the temperature differential would account for.

That being said, we got a good demonstration of destruction caused by improper cleaning here by work two years ago. The local farm services trucker took delivery of a brand new shiny stainless steel tank trailer, and parked it in his lot right along the highway to show it off. The next morning, this brand new trailer looked like a crumpled beer car. It turns out that it had just been picked up from the cleaning facility, and had been closed up while hot. The trailer is still around, all lumpy and bumpy from the hammer and porta-power work done to pop it back out. It's a lasting reminder of the power of even one atmosphere when applied to enough surface area.

You can do the same thing with a gallon metal container as a little science experiment. Heat a metal can, like what paint stripper comes in, with the lid off, filling with hot liquid temporarily will heat it up quickly, then cap it off and introduce the can to a very cold environment. It will crumple up. I noticed this happening after tossing cans that had been sitting on the heated roundhouse floor and tossed outside in the snowbank for disposal pick up.
Conversely, a can taken out of a cool paint storage cabinet will expand when placed on the warm floor, given the can is still sealed.

That video probably had a few frames removed.

To get non-pressurized tank car to implode, all you need to do is hook up a hose to a bottom unloading valve and open the valve while not opening the relief valve on the dome. Gravity will cause the liquid to flow out with no air flowing in to replace it. The tank will crumple long before it empties.

The AAR Loss & Damage Division used to have a film on this to show to tank car consignees.

I kept wondering where the car's upper platform went. Good thing they were all wearing hardhats, huh?