Fighting Fires With Beams of Electricity

cylonlover writes "It's certainly an established fact that electricity can cause fires, but a group of Harvard scientists have presented their research on the use of electricity for fighting fires. In a presentation at the 241st National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society, Dr. Ludovico Cademartiri told of how they used a unique device to shoot beams of electricity at an open flame over one foot tall. Almost immediately, he said, the flame was extinguished. 'Such a device could be used, for instance, to make a path for firefighters to enter a fire or create an escape path for people to exit, he said. The system shows particular promise for fighting fires in enclosed quarters, such as armored trucks, planes, and submarines.'"

Comments

"beams of electricity"?

[oldhack]

Like streams of electrons or ions?

Re:Anyone have any idea how it works?

[Penguinshit]

Perhaps the dispersion of the combustible particles disrupts the fuel/air mixture and halts combustion? It's a stretch but I guess possible. From what I learned in Hazmat class some years ago, you extinguish fire by depriving it of one of the following: Heat, Oxygen, or Fuel. Every extinguishing material does one or more.

Re:Magnesium

[ThunderBird89]

Let's see them take on a metal-fluoride fire! For those, I've always recommended a good pair of running shoes.

Re:Some idea

[Prune]

Yet another poster that didn't bother to do an iota of research beyond the article. They use oscillating fields which separate the flame from the fuel and used no more than 40 kV (that's makes for a rather small current at 600 W): http://cosmiclog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/03/28/6362578-fight-fire-with-a-magic-wand