Fighting Fire with Electricity?

Harvard physicist Ludovico Cademartiri and a team of researchers have made headway in the discovery of an alternative to fire hydrants and fire-extinguishers in putting out flames: electricity.

The goal of the research team was to find a way for firefighters to squash fiesty flames without water or foam, methods that completely destroy any salvageable objects that escape a fire's path and take a great deal of time.

The concept behind using electricity instead, although not fully developed or tested, is based on the fact that flames contain soot particles that become electrically charged and react to electrical fields. Charging flames with a strong enough beam of electricity has the potential to completely extinguish a fire without firefighters putting a finger on a fire-extinguisher or hose.

Cademartiri and crew have just stumbled upon this new development, but Harvard hopes they will be sharing more successful news in the near future.

[via engadget]