Uploaded September 2015 | Updated September 2026, 4 hours ago
The fire extinguisher uses low-frequency sound waves to douse a blaze. Engineering seniors Viet Tran and Seth Robertson now hold a preliminary patent application for their potentially revolutionizing device. www.gmu.edu
From CNN - edition.cnn.com/2015/03/27/us/sound-fire-extinguisher/index.html
Firefighters may be snuffing blazes with deep-toned sound, if a new device invented by two engineering students in Fairfax, Virginia, catches on.
Viet Tran and Seth Robertson's new fire extinguisher looks a little like a conventional one, but instead of a compressed air tank spewing out chemicals, theirs has a loudspeaker the size of subwoofer drumming out sound waves.
It's not much to listen to, just a low hum, but when pointed at flames, it makes them vanish.
In a way, it's like blowing the fire out, because sound waves are basically multiple, regular blasts of air.
When they started out, Tran and Robertson thought high-pitched tones would do the trick. It didn't work.
"It's low-frequency sounds – like the thump-thump bass in hip-hop that works," Tran said.
Video source: youtu.be/uPVQMZ4ikvM
Video publisher: youtube.com/channel/UC_I9YrZIS3IT8yMQTWiQMyg
The fire extinguisher uses low-frequency sound waves to douse a blaze. Engineering seniors Viet Tran and Seth Robertson now hold a preliminary patent application for their potentially revolutionizing device. www.gmu.edu
From CNN - edition.cnn.com/2015/03/27/us/sound-fire-extinguisher/index.html
Firefighters may be snuffing blazes with deep-toned sound, if a new device invented by two engineering students in Fairfax, Virginia, catches on.
Viet Tran and Seth Robertson's new fire extinguisher looks a little like a conventional one, but instead of a compressed air tank spewing out chemicals, theirs has a loudspeaker the size of subwoofer drumming out sound waves.
It's not much to listen to, just a low hum, but when pointed at flames, it makes them vanish.
In a way, it's like blowing the fire out, because sound waves are basically multiple, regular blasts of air.
When they started out, Tran and Robertson thought high-pitched tones would do the trick. It didn't work.
"It's low-frequency sounds – like the thump-thump bass in hip-hop that works," Tran said.
Video source: youtu.be/uPVQMZ4ikvM
Video publisher: youtube.com/channel/UC_I9YrZIS3IT8yMQTWiQMyg
