Why does water put of fire?

Question

I understand because it cools it down, but if your tried to put out a fire with oil would it go out or get bigger?

Answer 1

I would say because water is PURE

and that it contains nothing...

so that it won't flare a fire even more because its not mixed

with anything

*EXTRA* Like I wouldnt try putting fire out with oil becasue it would just make it worse.

Answer 2

When you burn hydrogen with oxygen it produces water (H2O) which is like a liquid ash and can not burn any more.  Oil is a carbohydrate containing both hydrogen and carbon that can combust with oxygen to produce H2O and CO2.  Thus, oil is a fuel and water is not a fuel.  Water hits a hot fire and turns to steam driving away the air and oxygen needed for combustion.  Water (as you say) can also cool a fuel such as wood so that it ceases to give off hot combustible gases.  Usually, oil fires must be smothered with sand or CO2 because water will turn to steam spreading the oil in tiny more easily burned droplets.

Answer 3

water puts out fire because it's incombustible. fire contributes much energy to the heating of water so it dies unless you put sacrce amounts of water. oil is combustible means it is flammable. it contains energy that can be combustible by fire.

Answer 4

A fire requires 3 things; fuel, oxygen, and heat. Adding oil to the fire simply adds fuel and thus it gets bigger. Water puts out fire by absorbing the energy (heat) produced during the chemical reaction. If the water is applied as a very thick mist over an oil fire (not a vapor but close) then the mist would absorb the energy and thus put out the fire. If it applied as a stream of water then the water would simply pass though the flame and allow the oil to float on the water thus not absorbing the energy.Producing the mist is ineffecent and hard to produce so oil fires are ussually extinguished by removal of the oxygen (a foam applicate) or removal of the fuel (baking soda absorbs the oil).

Answer 5

When you throw water on the fire, most of the fire's energy goes to heating the water until it evaporates. That is because water is an incombustible substance and does not contribute to the fire when burned. Hope this helps!

Answer 6

Water coats the burning area, starving the fire of oxygen, which is necessary for combustion.  Oil could theoretically do the same thing, but you would have to cover the ENTIRE burning area all at once.  Any burning area  not smothered by oil(and there would ALWAYS be some) and still burning would immediately ignite the oil making matters worse.