Fighting fire with electricity

Guardian : Firefighters may one day put out a fire by waving an electric wand at the flames. According to Ludevico Cademartiri from Harvard University and colleagues, they have succeeded in extinguishing an 18-inch flame by using an electrified metal wire. Basing their research on an observation made some 200 years ago that electricity can change the shape of flames, the team found that oscillating AC voltage charges the carbon particles in the flames, creating an organized flow that pushes the flames away from the fuel source. “Essentially, the [electrical field] separates the region that’s hot and burning from the unburnt fuel, so that fuel will not continue to burn,” said Kyle Bishop, a researcher who worked with the team.