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Sapphire: A Liquid That Won't Get Things Wet
eaglebtc writes "Tuesday on Good Morning America, a representative from Tyco Fire & Security demonstrated an amazing new substance called Sapphire: a water-like fluid that does not get things wet. He filled a small fish tank with Sapphire and submerged a book, a laptop, and a flat panel TV. Both electronics were turned on when submerged; all three items came out completely unharmed. Click here for a slideshow of the demonstration. The official name for Sapphire is actually Novec 1230. Read about it here (PDF). Tyco sees practical applications of Sapphire in fire extinguisher systems for museums and libraries. By the same token of practicality, regular readers of Slashdot probably have something else in mind: total-immersion watercooling. Just think of the possibilities!"
Dude, the water doesn't magically swipe heat out of the fire. When you dump a bunch of water on a fire, you are covering all the burning surfaces and preventing them from getting oxygen, dousing the flame. The heat already in the doused surfaces will steam the water off, sure, but by then it's too late for the fire.
There are certain types of fires you aren't supposed to put out with water because the mechanical action of spraying them causes them to get worse (only in rare cases, like perhaps your magnesium example, is the fire wicked enough to actually eat water). For example, a grease fire: take a pan of pooled grease or oil on the stove, heat it up enough to burn. If you're an idiot and spray it with water, you blow the pooled grease out of the pan, and suddenly there's a LOT more surface area of hot oil to react with the air and FWOOOHM.
It's so funny, how many folks chime in with their completely bogus knowledge. The peppering with 'big' science words like 'endothermic' on top of factually incorrect information and mis-understood theories must fool too many people around here. One would think geeks would know a little fire safety...
-ZOD-
Oh. I truly thought fish were electronic. Forgive my abhorrant ignorance, oh great one.