A new weapon to fight fires
- A new electric wand promises to be the firefighting tool of the future.
“Fire extinguishers may soon be a thing of the past: Wave a magic electric wand at a flame and you can snuff it out in milliseconds, according to Dr. Ludovico Cademartiri,” The Guardian reports.
According to The Guardian article, a paper presented to the American Chemical Society, CademartiriÂ’s Harvard University team reported that they had been able to extinguish an 18-inch [45-centimetre] flame merely by using an electrified metal wire. The beam of electricity came from a 600-watt amplifier, about the same power as a car stereo system so, the firefighter of the future would only need an ultra-portable power pack and wire rather than a cumbersome hose and large quantities of water or foam.
How does it work, though?
It’s based on the observation made some 200 years ago, that electricity can change the shape of flames. Previous experiments involved direct current, or DC. But Cademartiri’s group used oscillating AC voltage… creating an organized ‘flow’ of charged particles inside the flame that literally pushes the flame away from the fuel source, putting it out.
Related News
Electricity is civilization": Winter looms over Ukraine battlefront
KYIV - On the freshly liberated battlefields of northeast Ukraine, a pile of smashed glass windows outside one Soviet-era block of apartments attests to the violence of six months of Russian occupation, and of Ukraine’s sweeping recent military advances.
Indoors, in cramped apartments, residents lived in the dark for weeks on end.
Now, with a hard winter looming, they marvel at the speed and urgency with which Ukrainian officials have restored another key ingredient to their survival: electric power.\
Among those things governments strive to provide are security, opportunity, and minimal comfort. With winter approaching, and Russia targeting Ukraine’s infrastructure,…
