Citing a lack of
innovation in fire-extinguishing methods over the last 50 years, the
Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) last week revealed an
ear-buzzing new method for putting out fires: blast it with fine-tuned
frequencies.
Officially referred to as "acoustic suppression of flame,"
this simple yet potentially revolutionary method simply relies on two
speakers playing a specific low frequency toward the fire.
The
resulting acoustics increase air velocity, making it easier to alter the
origin of the fire's combustion, also known as the flame boundary
layer.
A DARPA statement says the specific sound "leads to higher fuel
vaporization, which widens the flame, but also drops the overall flame
temperature. Combustion is disrupted as the same amount of heat is
spread over a larger area."
On a loosely related note, Discovery Channel's "Mythbusters" once tested a man's claim of being able to put out a fire with a mere human voice.
They "busted" the myth after finding that a normal human voice could
not extinguish a fire, but did accomplish the feat after amplifying a
voice to 149 decibels.
No comments:
Post a Comment