Alabama's STEM explorers is made possible by the generous support of the Holle Family Foundation established to honor the legacy of Brigadier General Everett Holle and his parents, Evelyn and Fred.

Holle, Champions of servant leadership, science, technology, engineering, math, all coming up right now on Alabama STEM Explorers.

Hello, my name's Payton and welcome to Alabama STEM Explorers.

Today we're at the McWane Center with my friend And thank you very much for coming to join us today.

And what we're going to talk about today.

I had a question about this here Jar Anything inside it?

No, no Interesting answer.

Tell you what then let's see if you guys love if you might want to take a little step back, let's see what this empty jar of you when we add a little heat to last year.

An empty.

No, no, not really.

Payton today, I wanted us to talk about fire safety and we'll talk about a lot of different things about staying safe with combustion or fire.

And one thing is you have to be careful because sometimes there are dangerous things you can't even see.

That jar was filled with an invisible gas with a fume that was made beforehand.

Couldn't tell it was there.

It looks just like air, which is to say, looks like nothing that you saw.

Unlike air.

Yeah, it can catch on fire.

That's one reason we use safety equipment.

Like there might be dangerous stuff we're not even aware of.

Who do.

There are a lot of different things for being safe with fire.

I'm sure you know some of the rules about safety.

And should we play around with matches or lighters?

No.

Good answer.

Thank you.

And I suspect you do that for little kids.

Keep those things away from them where they can't get it.

You know how a little kids get into stuff?

It just happens all the time.

It's cool.

We all practice like fire drills and how to get out of the building where it's supposed to go.

Yes, a lot, don't you?

Yeah, I thought so.

Another safety thing is to do that at home.

Make sure your family knows if there is a fire.

How do we get out?

Where do we need up to make sure everyone is They are in safe and no one's been left behind in the building.

And perhaps one of the most important ones.

Maybe I speak honestly to the adults in the audience working smoke detectors.

Trust me on that part of them.

To understand fire or combustion, you really have to think about three things Call the fire triangle together because there's three of them triangle.

If I just take every fire, every combustion reaction needs to have enough of three things.

Otherwise, no fire.

First, every fire needs one particular chemical.

Usually it's found as a gas in the air and what do we need to breathe?

Air?

Which part of the air?

Which gas?

I should say oxygen.

Is that your final answer?

You are correct.

Yeah, it is.

The fire needs oxygen to outside of me.

There has to be something to react with the oxygen.

That could be lots of different things would pay for what?

Those things are usually called a fuel.

Thoroughly.

You get the fuel and the oxygen to react.

You need to have enough heat, not enough heat, energy, nothing.

Do let me give you a quick example of that.

There's a very expensive material.

This this is the kind of thing only found at places like the McWane Science Center.

Oh, a piece of paper and Payton.

Well, this piece of paper could if if you're going to catch on fire.

Yes, sure.

We have oxygen here in this room.

Yes.

Boy, I really hope that's true.

Yes, we've got fuel.

We've got oxygen.

Any fire happening now?

Okay.

Yeah, That is actually kind of boring now that I think about it.

I was afraid that's because we don't have enough heat in this room to get combustion.

We just have to heat it up a little more.

There is our fire.

And notice how this paper is burning here.

And notice we've got some leftovers.

You got the white stuff coming off of it.

We've got the grass looking ashy stuff there.

Those were parts of the paper that didn't really react so well.

The leftovers, if you will, have a question in science class, it's called Have you learned about changing the variables in experiments?

Yes.

Excellent.

Thank you.

That's good to know.

Changing of how you do the experiment just a little bit could make a difference.

Maybe check out this piece of paper there.

Does it seem very large paper like the time to write out?

It's cool.

Now what's different?

It's thinner.

It is kind of thinner.

Yeah.

There's another difference that we can't really see until we try a combustion reaction and observe closely to see if this fire is any different.

Was it?

Yes.

Yes, I should say so.

What was different about it?

There are no leftovers.

Exact in one.

No, I five again.

What were you doing that lunch.

As I know.

The point is there were no leftovers.

Instead of changing some of the paper, we got all of it.

Anything else different?

It burned faster.

Exactly.

Again.

Excellent.

I can see there's going to be a lot of this today, but this kind of paper here, not only is it different, it's got a second fuel and there's an extra chemical on this paper called nitric acid.

It helps it burn faster and more completely.

Sort something about just how fast this is ready.

And this also brings out another important fire safety test.

It could be important at a place like home or at home.

At home someone else has ever seen those little like space heater devices you put on the floor to warm up the room?

They're very efficient, but we have to be careful of safety with them.

Observe carefully.

Thanks to the extra fuel on this paper.

I'm just going to kind of hold it close to this piece of paper.

Still enough to get it to catch on fire.

Same deal with something really hard like this space here.

We don't just have to keep flammable, not touching them.

Yeah, you got to pack those away from those things.

They do get wicked up.

Let's get ready to take a close look at something here.

Some candles.

By any chance, is it your birthday?

No, no, that's too bad.

Right?

Some birthday candles.

Happy birthday.

Anyway, I guess that what would out of it if I was to take some flame and hold it to the side of this candle?

It won't catch on fire.

That is correct.

It would not.

What would happen?

The wax would melt.

That is correct.

It would also make a gigantic mess.

And I could ask not do that to my taste.

You're right.

It would melt from a solid into a liquid.

That's really how a candle works.

We like to work on fire.

We had a combustion reaction there and that's hot enough to melt the wax at the top of the candle And when it's a liquid, a flame on the wax, there is not enough to evaporate some of that to get some of it to turn from a liquid to tear gas.

So you get tiny little pieces of wax floating up into the air and that can catch on fire, as we'll see with some of our experiments later.

A big solid on the wax will burn a lot of tiny little pieces of wax, no problem.

And this is going to be an experiment we're going to have to watch super closely here.

No light these two candles.

And if I blow it out, we're going to see what we normally think of as smoke.

It's going to be white.

And that's not really smoke.

It's tiny bits of wax floating around in the air.

And just like the tiny bits of wax right below the white hair, that stuff is flammable.

Get ready to observe closely.

I'm going to blow this candle out and then try to relight it without holding this flame right on the way.

Let's see if I can do it.

You think I can?

Yeah.

Yeah.

We'll give it a couple of.

Just like a lot of things.

The tiny pieces of wax there and just like the gas in the jar, I started out with a lot more flammable than it would be in one giant solid mass.

Yeah, I'll talk more about that with a friend of mine later on.

There's something else for fire safety here.

What will happen if you put that over the candles there and they go out?

So we try to find out.

Sure as well.

Put it on top.

Perfect.

And you're predicting it's going to go out.

Why do you think?

Because there's no oxygen exact among the high five again.

Oh, forever together, combustion reaction or fire.

We need enough of all three effects, refuel oxygen, taking away any of them.

Fire goes out, which is what's happening.

There we go.

Exactly.

They're under the jar.

That fire used up all the oxygen that was in there.

And no more oxygen, no more fire.

Smothering fires is a good way to take away the oxygen and put them out.

That can be another big fire safety.

Did you ever go camping?

Yes.

Oh, yes.

It's really nice.

Campfires.

What should we cover them up with once we're done?

Oh, fire safety, sand, sand is a great way to smother a fire and take away the oxygen tank here with air smothering the fire.

No more oxygen.

No more fire.

I want to show you another thing about fire safety.

It has to do with watching out for the heat part of things.

When we think of hot stuff, a lot of times we think about things like candles, lighters, matches, a hot stuff like a space heater.

The stove or something.

There's other ways that we can get heat that could be dangerous as well.

Right here I have a chemical that has a lot of H2O2.

I won't need much of it.

Just a little bit.

Should do us plenty.

All right, Now here's another good example of safety.

Just H2O2 look a lot like H2O.

Yes is definitely is not.

Yeah you don't want it don't want to take a drink not just wasn't right now even if we can't see it, it's slowly starting to break apart.

Some of those extra oxygens are falling off, but to be honest, it's happening kind of slowly.

I asked our friendly TV people here if we had a couple of hours to show this part, and I was told no, and we we don't.

So make this change happen fast or break off the extra oxygen quicker.

We're going to need to use something called a catalyst.

That's a chemical that takes another chemical reaction and makes it go fast.

The catalyst, friend of the patient everywhere.

I got some of this catalyst here.

It's a little powdery chemical.

I won't get a lot of it.

I think a little bit.

Seriously, not enough just now.

You'll be surprised how quickly that will be able to speed things out.

Now there are things going.

You get a little bit stiff probably.

Let's hold that up to us for temporarily.

You know, I think times there, if you go there for a that I had and I want you to carefully drop that in and then so we don't get messy take a little step back drop it in Oh that's going to take a step back now now it's starting to break apart.

You can see bubbles caused by that extra oxygen and a lot of steam coming off this this experiment looks like this reaction is getting kind of hot.

Yes.

Now what I'd say don't touch the glass, but hold your hand kind of near it.

There.

You know, feel the heat?

Not really.

That's how you look towards the bottom.

Oh, yeah?

Yeah, right.

Where the action is there.

Now we're getting lots of oxygen.

But seriously, quite a lot of oxygen.

A lot.

And again, definitely are there sometimes just chemical reactions like breaking chemicals apart that could make a lot of heat there.

One of the classic things about safety for this has to do with motor oil micrographs through perhaps you have viewers at home don't throw oily rags into the trash, just like H2O2.

Two motor oil will eventually break apart.

And just like this chemical that breaking apart is exothermic.

That means it gets hotter so the oil breaks your heart and get hotter.

That exothermic reaction could set the radicals in the rest of the oil on fire.

And that would not not not be good.

Disposing of chemicals like oil carefully is another important safety thing.

Another important safety.

Think about combustion is we've tried some experiments here.

Yeah, Please, please, please don't do this at home yourself.

Here.

Here's McWane Science Center.

We do have lots of safety equipment on hand.

We have been trained in doing the experiment safely.

Seriously, if you see things on TV or the Internet that says, Ooh, that looks cool.

No, don't.

Just.

Just, just don't you promise?

Promise.

Okay, Just check.

I have an idea for how we could show you a little bit more about fire safety and the fire triangle.

But for that, we'll have to invite my friend Mr. Christopher to help us We are at the McWane Science Center with my friend Christopher.

That's right.

Now, you were talking with Jonah earlier about, well, mostly how to start fires.

What my question for you is, oh, once the fires started, how do you stop it?

By putting water on it.

Water, right.

That's what I think of, too.

And yet not every fire is the same.

Take this, for instance.

This is thermite.

Now, when I add fire to my thermite, we start what's called a thermite reaction.

That's a combustion reaction that can get close to 4000 degrees Fahrenheit.

So let's see how our water handles heat like that.

Now, with heat that high, we're going to get some pretty bright lights.

So whoosh.

What have I got?

I've got my safety goggles, I've got my sunglasses, I've got my eyeglasses.

What do you say we use all three?

Here we go.

Sunglasses is on, safety goggles on.

And for you at home.

And you, Peyton, will need this special shield.

Now, Peyton, from this side, make sure not to look directly at the reaction.

Right.

It's going to be extreme, really bright.

And before we can do any experiments like this, we'll need our safety goggles.

Would you kindly.

Yes.

Thank you very much.

Last, I'll put on my safety gloves and strap in because this may take a while.

Any good science takes patience.

Here we go.

I've added my heat.

It's.

Whoa.

Look at that.

Let's go ahead and put that in our water and hold on.

That's interesting.

What's the water doing?

Is it putting up the the reaction?

Is it putting on our fire?

No, not at all.

Until it ran out of the fuel to burn, our fire stayed lit.

So can water put out every fire?

No.

And worse than that, it can make some fires a lot worse.

Think of a grease fire or an oil fire.

Have you ever heard that oil and water don't mix?

Yes.

That means that instead of putting out our fire, our water could cause our oil to spread.

Spread the oil, spread the fire, which can turn a small problem into a big, big, big problem.

So here behind me, I have put a fire extinguisher.

Now, always make sure to check the outside of the fire extinguisher to see what it's supposed to extinguish.

You can see that this is an EBC fire extinguisher.

That means it puts out, well, the kind of fire you would get from a match or paper, a trash can fire.

But it also puts out see that liquid fires?

That's our grease, that's our oil.

Not only that, would you want to put water on electricity?

No, no.

Things that use electricity, they don't want water.

And yet they can start a fire.

If an electrical appliance start You'll want to go somewhere else instead.

Now let's move on to another fuel.

This here is a special powder called.

Take a look.

What does that look like to you?

Sand kind of looks like sand.

Kind of looks like maybe make up foundation parmesan cheese.

But this unlike everything else we've named, happens to be very, very flammable.

Think of each one of these tiny speck of dust like a tiny stick of dynamite ready to go off.

So I want you to put it in your hand.

Go ahead.

Hold it out.

Just like that.

There you go.

Hold on tight.

So what do you think is going to happen when I add my fire to our, there will be a very big fire.

All right.

Don't blink here we go.

In three, two, one and zero.

Well, hold on.

What happened?

Did it make a really big fire?

No.

Do we have any fire left at all?

No.

Well, I knew this was going to happen, and it happened for a good reason.

Remember the three pieces of the fire triangle?

Yes.

What were they?

Heat.

Right.

Heat.

Oxygen.

Oxygen and fuel.

Fuel, Right.

Are like a podium.

That's our fuel.

When I told you it was really flammable, I wasn't lying.

And our heat.

Well, if our match didn't give us heat, I don't know what would.

So what was missing?

Oxygen.

Oxygen?

That's exactly right.

Packed inside all those tightly packed specs of our fuel.

There was no room for oxygen.

So I think I know how to solve this problem.

I have a very special, very professional birthday candle, rubber banded to a stick.

And I'd like you to hold this end of my stick.

Now, before we go, any further, let's go ahead and put your goggles on.

How's that feel?

Good.

Nice and tight.

Perfect.

I'm going to light up the other end of our fire stick.

And, of course, safety first.

Here we go.

from our bottle to our flame, adding oxygen.

Here we go in 3 2 1.

Well, that was the really big fire you were talking about.

Do you want to see it one more time?

Yeah.

Here we go.

Three, two, one.

Well, now that paper is called a dust explosion.

Now, do you happen to have any, in your house?

No, no.

This is a dried spore of a plant.

Pretty tough to come by at Walgreens.

But do you have a dryer?

Yes.

Yes.

And as that dryer tumbles, we build up little specks of dust called Oh, not in this case, something a little more mundane, a little easier to come by, dryer lint.

So there's our fuel as it spreads, there's our oxygen.

And where do you think the heat comes from?

The dryer.

The dryer itself.

A dust explosion waiting to happen.

Now, imagine what would happen if that were in an enclosed space.

Well, imagine no longer because that's what our next experiment is going to test.

You ready?

Yes.

All right.

Have I led you a story so far?

Yes.

Okay.

Well, I don't usually get that answer, but what do you say we give it a try?

Here is a container.

Now, right now the lid is on our container is open.

As that heat expands, it has a place to escape.

Speaking of heat, let's get our fire lit.

But when I close it up, suddenly any heat that expands is going to have nowhere to go.

Meaning something's got to break.

Now, situations like this happen to be more common than you think.

Think of sawdust in a closed factory, sugar, flour, anything that's flammable.

But those doors closed can make big problems.

But no use talking about it.

You ready to see?

Get all right Here we go.

Why don't you call me down this time from a three?

Here we go.

In three, two, one.

Wow.

Jonah.

Hi.

Look at this.

Oh, look at that.

What happened?

Do you melted a hole through the lid?

I melted the hole through the lid, which means.

Well, guess where all that heat escaped through the hole.

Through the hole.

Now, sometimes experiments can go wrong, even in spectacular ways.

But I want you to imagine if all that heat were expanding and had no way to escape, then, Well, what's going to happen to our lid?

It would've blown off.

It would have blown right off.

A little bit of dust makes a big, big problem.

Well, Peyton, I hope I've showed you today how fire can be enormously useful, an important part of our lives.

But all that use comes with some risks.

So do you think you're going to try experiments like these or play with fire with out showing it respect without having a responsible adult nearby?

No, no, That's great to hear.

Thank you to the McWane Science Center and my friends Jonah and Christopher for helping me out with all these experiments.

Thank you for watching Alabama Semaphores and see you next time.

Thanks for watching.

Alabama STEM explorers If you missed anything or you want to watch something again, you can check out our website at frame of minds dot org.

Maybe you have a STEM question we could answer here on the show and you might grab a cool T-shirt.

Feel free to send us a video question or email on our website.

Thanks again for watching.

We'll be back next week.

Alabama STEM explorers is made possible by the generous support of the Holle Family Foundation established to honor the legacy of Brigadier General Everett Holle and his parents, Evelyn and Fred Holle, champions of servant leadership.