The idea behind putting water on a fire is not oxygen deprivation, but
cooling. Takes three things to cause fi Heat, Fuel, Oxygen
(oxydizer) - remove (or reduce below whatever level is approprite in a
given situation,) any one of those three and cumbustion is no longer
supported.
The retardent, IMHO with a bit of stray knowledge thrown in, is
"sticky water" - initially, it cools by absorbing heat from whatever
burning thing it lands upon, secondarily, it coats the fuel (trees,
brush, houses, etc) with the goo, which itself doesn't combust or has
such a high flash point it won't combust in this situation, to help
prevent ignition. I imaging the coating tends to isolate the fuel from
the oxygen source, too.
See here for info:
http://www.fs.fed.us/r2/psicc/hayres/slurry.htm
Randy
(Gene Seibel) wrote in message . com...
It does make a mess. A news reporter at a TV station I worked for had
one of our video redorders dumped on while covering a forest fire. It
never worked again.
--
Gene Seibel
Hangar 131 - http://pad39a.com/gene/plane.html
Because I fly, I envy no one.
Nitrate or phosphate base is a function of the supplier of the goo. Don't get
it on you, it is a bitch to wipe off.
Jim
vincent p. norris
shared these priceless pearls of wisdom:
-I read in a recent Av Leak that the stuff fire-bombers drop is a
-mixture of phosphate fertilizer and water.
Jim Weir (A&P/IA, CFI, & other good alphabet soup)
VP Eng RST Pres. Cyberchapter EAA Tech. Counselor
http://www.rst-engr.com
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