On a similar note, sulphur burns with a light blue flame that is practically invisible in sunlight. While you probably won't encounter it in automobiles we've had a few fires at bulk sulphur loadouts over the years, or in the railcars.
It melts and starts dripping or flowing around from the heat of the fire, and its fumes are highly toxic.
Greetings from Alberta
-an Articulate Malcontent
charlie hebdoAlcohol also burns with a nearly invisible flame.
ronrunner My local bus company in Painesville OH just acquired 2 battery buses.A local industry has also acquired a battery powered switcher. Also there are like 30 IM trains a day with Lithium Batterys being a possible cargo. Lithium when it ignites gets hotter then the surface of the sun and water makes the fire worse as water is a catalyst for Lithium. Have not seen yet problems with the new electric bikes but the idea of having a fire bomb between my legs does not sit well with me
My local bus company in Painesville OH just acquired 2 battery buses.A local industry has also acquired a battery powered switcher. Also there are like 30 IM trains a day with Lithium Batterys being a possible cargo. Lithium when it ignites gets hotter then the surface of the sun and water makes the fire worse as water is a catalyst for Lithium. Have not seen yet problems with the new electric bikes but the idea of having a fire bomb between my legs does not sit well with me
Alcohol also burns with a nearly invisible flame.
Yeah true on that just ask the city of Morris Illinois how much heat those freaking things can produce. Hot enough to literally turn steel into pools of molten metal and sand into glass. Yes they found glass in the debris of that fire from the sand they literally had dumped onto it to try to put it out.
Look at the bright side...they provide a lot of heat!
Firefighters learned how to deal with gasolene and oil fires pretty quickly, chemical fire extinguishing systems go back as far as the turn of the 20th Century.
The trouble with lithium car battery fires is nothing in the firefighter's arsenal works on them, at least not at the moment.
Combustible metal fires in vehicles have been an issue ever since substantial amounts of magnesium started to be used in auto parts. Try putting THAT out with water and see what happens......
I'll bet some people had issues trying to fight gasoline or oil fires with water when those fuels first started to become common.
Lithium batteries are like welded rail - it is in commercial production and use - it has not been MASTERED.
Never too old to have a happy childhood!
ronrunner Lithium when it ignites...
Lithium when it ignites...
https://bikehike.org/why-do-lithium-batteries-catch-fire/
3632 F, according to the above.
...gets hotter then the surface of the sun...
https://skynomy.com/what-is-the-approximate-surface-temperature-of-the-sun/#:~:text=The%20approximate%20surface%20temperature%20of%20the%20Sun%20is,why%20there%20is%20sustainable%20life%20on%20our%20planet.
5850 F, according to the above.
Nope. Not hotter than the surface of the sun.
But certainly warmish.
Ed
There's been instances of electric cars catching fire and the local fire departments not being able to put the fire out, all they can do is contain it and make sure it doesn't spread to any surroundings. It's not happening all over, but it is happening.
As I hear it lithium-ion battery technology isn't 100% understood.
I don't believe electric cars are the panacea some would believe they are, but that's another story.
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