So I have a chem-related nerdy question... My question stems from this FARK article about SafeBall and how it can turn grease fires to soap. My mom always taught me never to put water on a grease fire, always put baking soda on it. The Febbex website's explanation of their product makes it seem pretty cool and since I haven't had occasion to put out a grease fire with baking soda, I don't know if the result is indeed soap.
Does anyone know if this $20 "SafeBall" is a European scheme of hosing Americans? (Pun intended.) Or is the high-tech ball's saponification that much more effective than just pouring a box of baking soda on the fire?
Well, I've never had the occasion of putting out a fire with SafeBall, but I know that baking soda works. I don't think I got soap, but who knows.
But after downloading that video of SafeBall in action, I don't think I'd get it. When they first threw it on the fire, it shot out a bunch of I don't know what, but it'd probably burn you. Then, the fire kept on burning for a while until all of a sudden it started shooting out more stuff, this time smoking and looking really hot.
Posted by: Fatboy at August 11, 2003 04:34 PMThat thing is so cool... I'd buy it just for the fact it comes with a gun thing. But yeah, baking soda works fine from what I hear. The SafeBall uses a wonderfully new checmical to fight fires -- water. Seriously. This thing is a wax ball with water inside. It has an extra agent to create foam (CO2?), which also helps apprantly. And it probably does create soap, since soap does come from lard, but really, who cares? It's not like you're now halfway through the process of cleaning your now burnt pot.
Posted by: Rick at August 11, 2003 05:08 PM