New Form of Fire, Inspired by Bourbon, Might Help With Oil Spills
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/29/science/firenado-fire-whirl.html?_r=0AUG. 29, 2016
A small blue flame, circulating in a vortex called a fire whirl, could become an important tool in oil spill cleanup, according to the scientists who created it. And they give bourbon credit for inspiring the research.
Fire whirls, colloquially called firenadoes, look like tornadoes or wind devils, and they burn hotter than many other fires.
The results can be devastating in a city or a forest. So researchers have studied fire whirls with an eye to stopping or preventing them. Three scientists from the University of Maryland had a different idea.
Huahua Xiao, a research associate, who conducted experiments on fire whirls along with Michael J. Gollner and Elaine S. Oran, said, “We wanted to harness the power of fire whirls for good.”
As for the bourbon, the research was prompted not by consumption of this particular kind of high-test, but by a video of flaming bourbon.
A spill from the Jim Beam factory on a pond in Kentucky caught fire in 2011, and a fire whirl formed spontaneously. Because fire whirls are relatively efficient in terms of how complete the combustion is, Dr. Xiao said, it seemed they might be useful in dealing with other kinds of spills, creating less soot than other kinds of fires.
The researchers didn’t use bourbon in their experiment. Instead, they picked a more common experimental substance, n-heptane. It’s an ingredient in some fuels used to test engine performance....
