14 DAY TRIAL // For millennia, people have used water to extinguish fire in most circumstances. Now, after thousands of years, experts are getting ready to move to the next fire-fighting technology, which uses electricity.
Generally, we are told not to use water on power outlets, as this may cause unwanted interactions between the chemical and electricity. But that precaution may become obsolete, experts said at the 241st national meeting of the American Chemical Society (ACS), held in Anaheim, California.
Beams of electricity are the way to the future of fighting against the flames, said researchers at the Harvard University. For their new work, they drew inspiration from observations carried out more than 200 years ago.
It was discovered at the time that electricity has the amazing capacity to bend flames according to specific patterns, said Harvard expert Ludovico Cademartiri, PhD, who made the presentation.
He works with a research group led by Harvard professor George M. Whitesides, PhD. The team said that scientists haven't really studied fire-electricity interactions in detail, and that they simply repaired this oversight.
“Controlling fires is an enormously difficult challenge. Our research has shown that by applying large electric fields we can suppress flames very rapidly,” Cademartiri said at the presentation.
“We're very excited about the results of this relatively unexplored area of research,” he added. Soon, zaps of electricity could replace water, foam, powder and all the other substances that firefighters now use to extinguish flames.
The Harvard team explained that the flame-suppressing effect was obtained by hooking up a 600-watt amplifier to a wand-shaped device. Once aimed at the flames, the new instrument snuffed them out almost instantly. Experts believe that even 60-watt amplifiers would have the same effect.
“Combustion is first and foremost a chemical reaction – arguably one of the most important – but it's been somewhat neglected by most of the chemical community,” Cademartiri told attendants.
“We're trying to get a more complete picture of this very complex interaction,” he added. If the innovation proves successful in upcoming tests, then fire departments around the world could employ it to facilitate their missions.
By eliminating the need to use water or foam, efforts to extinguish fires could result in less damage to homes and offices. Even if a fire does not destroy everything, the water used today certainly will.
By using electricity, only the damage caused by the actual fire will remain behind. The Harvard team says that funds for the study came from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and the US Department of Energy (DOE).