Judging from some ads on belated - nighttime TV , you would think that the average human being is unequal to of peeling fruit , clear salad or vacuuming a floor without hilarious disaster ensuing . Which might make you wonder : How can we possibly be bank with put out a fire ?
In the thick of an emergency is a lousy meter to realize thatfire extinguishersare more than a point - and - shoot proposition . You call for to properly stash away , charge and maintain them , translate how to activate and use them , and choose the right one for a given fervour . It ’s a slew to cogitate about in the , hem , heat of the moment , which is why it ’s surprising that laws mandate that workplaces and homes stock extinguishers do not always postulate training in their proper maintenance and use .
It ’s a complex job , and one that firefighters have grappled with since Ctesibius of Alexandria devised the first canonic helping hand pump for directing weewee at a fire around 200 B.C.E. [ reference : Encyclopaedia Britannica ] . Over time , it became clear that we involve more portable extinguishers and a wider array of snuffing substances to tackle different fuels and conditions : Water would n’t work in grease fire or electric surroundings , and struggle bait infernos required different skills and tactics than dousing a smolder trumpery fire . In short , firefightinggrew from an pursuit to a science , and one of its laws stated that vacillation and bad decisions do more damage than good .
Clearly , firefighting should n’t be left to the amateurs unless necessary and , in such pillow slip , the gimmick they use should be as simple as possible .
With this in nous , a few company have rekindle the centuries - old estimate of thefire grenade , made it unproblematic , nontoxic and eco - friendly , and dubbed it thethrowable fire extinguisher . It comes in two basic cast : a breakable ampul about the size of a large shampoo nursing bottle and a passion - trigger formal roughly the size of a cantaloup . Both are lightweight enough for even child , the elderly and the otherwise abled to throw or pluck them .
Whereas throwable ampuls shatter and react with flack to engender smothering gases and froth , fire quenching balls go boom and scatter dry chemical substance . As we ’ll shortly see , although they cover much of the same territory , their approaches dissent quite a number .
The Geometry of Fire
To apprehend the practicality of throwable fire extinguishers , it helps to consider what goes into fighting a fire .
At its most basic , fire is just a fast , blistering course ofoxidation , the same basic chemical response that rusts sure-enough bumpers and turns rationalise yield brown . It entail four elements – fuel , heat , oxygen and an uninhibited chemical substance reaction – that together form what fire-eater call thefire tetrahedron : heat up something to its kindling temperature in an oxygen environment , and you get flame , which flip off more oestrus as it burns , which then prepare new and interesting stuff ablaze or feeds back into the system and keep the chemical reaction roam [ source : NFPA ] .
At its core , firefighting intend playingYoko Onoto this Fab Four of Fire , but just what that means varies from fervour to fire and can require great expertness to figure out . One key element in that calculation , so basic that it specify how the United States and other countries assort fires , ask the fuel ’s composition [ reservoir : NFPA;OSHA ] :
In truth , fighting any but the most basic fires charter years of training and experience in how attack spread , affect social system , builds pressure in cooler , or changes climate in an wink . For instance , water , which chill fire and creates steam to crowd out oxygen , figure out well on Class A fires but makes grease fires and Class Cs more hazardous . fight Class B fires typically mean establishing a smother foam barrier , while Class D materials , which can churn out their own O and H while burning , require sand or common salt - based powders to smother ( asaltis a compound formed from an acid - base response in which the pane ’s hydrogen is replaced by a alloy or other positive ion ) [ sources : Encyclopaedia Britannica;NFPA ] .
Throwable flak extinguisher and balls do n’t avoid this problem ; you still need to bed the limited subset of fires breed by a given product . But , as we ’ll see in the next section , they do overtake other limitations of canister extinguishers , including majority , upkeep and complexity of use .
Great Balls (and Bottles) of Firefighting
We begin put away around throwable fire fire extinguisher , then called firegrenades , in the tardy 19th century , in the main during the period from 1870 - 1910 . Most consisted of methamphetamine hydrochloride bulb that homeowners could chuck into a attack or mount in metal brackets ( a fire ’s hotness would melt the rack ’s solder , cause the grenade to ruin on the floor ) . Fire grenade usually containedcarbon tetrachloride , which dilutes inflammable liquid fuel and forms a dense gaseous state mantle to helps block out oxygen . However , because carbon tetrachloride is poisonous and can produce the toxic chemical chemical compound phosgene during a fervor , such gadget fall out of favor as fire extinguisher meliorate [ source : Burke;The Gas Age;Kovel and Kovel ] .
But some ideas cash in one’s chips severely . Today , a Thailand party produces the Elide Fire Extinguishing Ball , a 5.8 - inch ( 14.7 - centimeter ) , 3.3 - pound ( 1.5 - kilogram ) sphere that customers throw or roll into flak . After 3 - 10 seconds of exposure to flame , the ball blow up clamorously ( 120 decibels ) and scattersextinguishing agents , including FUREX 770 , a juiceless chemical substance containingmono ammonium phosphate . The ball can put out small-scale Class A and some small Class B fire over an 86 - 108 hearty - foot ( 8 - 10 square - meter ) indoor area , and its flashy bang can suffice as an alarm [ root : Caldic Deutschland;Elide;YG Yangın Güvenliği ] .
Malaysia ’s Linnovate Technology offers the SOTERIA Throwable Fire Extinguisher , a 1.3 - pound ( 600 - gram ) plastic rosin bottle that withstands everyday pressure but shatters when dropped from 3 feet ( 1 metre ) , free organic and inorganic salts . These react with firing to generate carbon copy dioxide and ammonia gas , which disperse and extinguish the fervidness , as well as foam , which suffocates the fuel . It retail for $ 69.99 ( at the time of publishing ) and douses Class A and B fire [ sources : Lim;Linnovate ] .
Bonex , a Malaysian company headquarter in Japan , fraction its throwable products according to fire fuel type . Its $ 85 SAT119 ( named for the Nipponese flame saving turn ) resembles SOTERIA in form but handles only Class A fires . According to one store , it take 16.9 fluid oz. ( 500 milliliters ) ofammonium phosphate dibasic(a soluble ammonium ion phosphate salt used as an environmentally friendly flaming retardant ) , andammonium bicarbonate(a white pulverisation found in baking powders and fire extinguisher ) . When exposed to ardor , it give off carbon paper dioxide and ammonia gas . Bonex also makes FR911 FLAMEOUT for handling Class A , B and C ardour [ sources : Bonex;Japan Trend Shop;NJDHSS;Santa Cruz Biotechnology ] .
All three products contain non-poisonous , eco - well-disposed chemicals and brag a five - year ledge aliveness , according to manufacturers [ sources : Bonex;Elide ] . Regarding their legality in the Unites States , Linnovate CEO Leon Lim say , " SOTERIA Throwable has been export to many nation and has always been classify as a non - grievous good . "
Lots More Information
I do n’t consider I ’m alone in feel a sure anxiety when it arrive to handle a flame fire extinguisher in an pinch , so I can definitely see the appealingness of make the physical process as simple as potential . Of naturally , you still want to sleep together what you ’re doing , which imply a flake of reading up but , hey , you interpret HowStuffWorks , right ? You wish watch how , um , stuff work .
One of the keys to fighting fires safely is to understand that you only have a little windowpane of prison term in which to bring some sort of extinguishing machine to bear . After that , affair are probably going to get far enough out of helping hand that you should really just get out and call 911 . So , if grab a bottle or Lucille Ball is faster than the fire extinguisher mantra of " Pull , Aim , Squeeze and Sweep , " then maybe there ’s something to popping for a throwable or two .
Me , I ’m going to wait until the fire authorisation and chemists librate in on them ( the ones I contacted for this article either did not get back to me or declined to comment ) .
