Ep 8. The Invincible Fire

The Invincible Fire is the eighth episode of season two of Street Science. In this episode, host Kevin Delaney and his team explore the science behind fire, particularly how to make fire-resistant materials.

The episode starts off with Kevin visiting a fire department training facility where firefighters learn to fight fires in a controlled environment. Kevin is shown how firefighters use ventilation techniques to control and extinguish fires and the importance of heat resistant equipment.

Next, Kevin and his team conduct an experiment to see if they can create a fire-resistant material. They mix various compounds to create a paste and use it to coat different materials like paper and wood. They then apply heat and flame to these materials to see how well they hold up against the fire.

After testing various mixtures, Kevin and his team successfully create a fire-resistant coating that can be applied to various materials to make them fire-resistant. They visit a fire protection company and apply their coating to a wall made from wood and drywall. The wall is then subjected to a roaring fire, but the coating holds up and prevents the wall from catching on fire.

The team then visits a fire department to test the effectiveness of their fire-resistant coating on the gear that firefighters use. They apply their coating to firefighter gear made from cotton and nylon, then expose the gear to a direct flame. The coated gear holds up much better against the flames than uncoated gear.

The next experiment is all about fire suppression. Kevin and his team visit a company that specializes in fire suppression systems and they demonstrate how their system works. They show how their system is triggered by a high heat environment and releases a gas that effectively suppresses the fire.

Kevin then visits a fire research lab where he learns about how fire behaves in different environments. The researchers show Kevin some of the tools they use to study fire, including things like thermal imaging cameras and temperature probes. They also demonstrate how they build houses in a controlled environment to study how fire spreads through different materials.

Kevin and his team then head back to the lab to test a theory about how to create the most effective fire suppression system. They theorize that by creating a superheated environment, they can create some of the same conditions that trigger fire suppression systems, allowing them to study the effectiveness of these systems in a safe environment.

Overall, The Invincible Fire provides an in-depth look at the science of fire. Kevin and his team conducted various experiments to test different fire-resistant materials and suppression systems. They also visited various fire departments and research labs to learn more about how fire behaves and how firefighters work to control and extinguish fires.