Fighting Fire with ... Lasers?

A new scientific development could mean a new way of fighting fire for those noble women and men in flame deterrent uniforms: a wand-shaped instrument that puts out fire with electricity, Harry Potter style.

Let’s take bets on how many 10 year olds are going to want one of these doohickeys! No, let’s not.

The new devices would enable firefighters to put out fires without having to saturate buildings with water, which would also potentially limit the damage done to buildings that have to be blasted with high-powered streams of water for extended periods of time.

A physicist named Ludovico Cademartiri, from Harvard University, has developed the wand to be unveiled at the American Chemical Society this week. Cademartiri stated to the London Sunday Times, "Controlling fires is an enormously difficult challenge. Our research has shown that applying large electric fields can suppress flames very rapidly. We're very excited about the results."

Apparently the wand employs electricity to twist the shape of flames to the point of flickering out. Connecting a 600-watt electrical amplifier to a probe shaped like a wand, the tool shoots beams of electricity at flames to warp their formation.

In tests, the scientists were able to snuff out a flame over a foot high by shooting beams of electricity at it. The soot particles located in flames become electrically charged during combustion, and were blasted out in response to the electrical fields. 

Juliana Kenny graduated from the University of Connecticut with a double degree in English and French. After managing a small company for two years, she joined TMC (News - Alert) as a Web Editor for TMCnet. Juliana currently focuses on the call center and CRM industries, but she also writes about cloud telephony and network gear including softswitches.

Edited by Jennifer Russell