A pair of engineering students at George Mason University in Virginia managed to create a fire extinguisher that operates using sound waves.
This started as an idea for a senior research project, and after a year’s worth of tinkering (and spending $600 of their own money), Seth Robertson and Viet Tran created something fully functional, the Washington Postreports. As you’ll see in the clip above, the portable device puts out a blaze in mere seconds.
Sound waves are also “pressure waves, and they displace some of the oxygen,” Tran told the Washington Post, explaining how the apparatus works. At the right frequency, the sound waves “separate the oxygen [in the fire] from the fuel,” he said. “The pressure wave is going back and forth, and that agitates where the air is. That specific space is enough to keep the fire from reigniting.”
After quite a bit of trial and error, Tran and Robertson found the frequency that worked. Before applying for a patent, though, the engineers plan to do a lot more testing. Stay tuned for the day when you’ll be able to use this in your kitchen.
See the Scene of the East Village Building Collapse and Fire
A building fire is seen from overhead in the East Village of New York City on March 26, 2015.NYPD Special Ops/APA building fire is seen from overhead in the East Village of New York City on March 26, 2015.NYPDA building on 2nd Avenue burns after a collapse in the East Village section of New York City on March 26, 2015.Andrew Burton—Getty ImagesHenry Lihn posted this photo on Instagram of the building collapse and fire in the East Village section of New York City on March 26, 2015.Henry Lihn (@henrylihn) via InstagramA New York Police Department (NYPD) officers signals residents away from the site of a building fire in the East Village neighborhood of New York City on March 26, 2015.Ben Hider—ReutersNew York City firefighters work the scene of a large fire and a partial building collapse in the East Village neighborhood of New York City on March 26, 2015.John Minchillo—APA resident watches a blaze at a commercial and residential block in New York City on March 26, 2015.Eduardo Munoz Alvarez—AFP/Getty ImagesNew York City Fire Department firefighters battle a fire in the East Village neighborhood of New York City on March 26, 2015. Andrew Gombert—EPAA New York City Police helicopter flies near billowing smoke above the site of a residential apartment building collapse and fire in the East Village neighborhood of New York City on March 26, 2015.Brendan McDermid—ReutersSmoke rises from a burning building after a collapse on 2nd Avenue in the East Village section of New York City on March 26, 2015.Andrew Burton—Getty ImagesFirefighters respond to an explosion and partial building collapse in a residential and commercial mixed use multi-story structure in lower Manhattan, New York on March 26, 2015.Jason Szenes—EPAA debris-strewn street seen amid the site of a seven-alarm fire that caused the collapse of two buildings and damage to two other buildings a day after the blaze took place on March 27, 2015 in New York City.Nancy Borowick—Pool/Getty Images
