Fire is the result of applying enough heat to a fuel source, when you’ve got a whole lot of oxygen around. As the atoms in the fuel heat up, they begin to vibrate until they break free of the bonds holding them together and are released as volatile gases.

Because sound is a pressure wave that oscillates between regions of high and low pressure, the oscillation can be exploited to create a vacuum that separates air molecules from the sounds of the flame, putting out the fire. Rather, low-frequency bass sounds between 30 and 60Hz were the most effective.

Since sound waves can move oxygen and fire through pressure from their vibrations, this specific frequency of sound wave works to separate the flame molecules from the surrounding oxygen, effectively starving the fire and snuffing out the flame.

between 40 and 50 hertz
It has been determined that there is most likely a special frequency that can extinguish a flame, generally between 40 and 50 hertz. Theoretically the pressure drop produced by the sound wave can extinguish flame (Snyder, 2008).

The combustion reactions don’t inherently make any sounds. But they release plenty of energy causing the nearby molecules to acquire higher random kinetic energy, which is theoretically detectable as Brownian noise.

Radio waves break apart the bonds and liberate flammable hydrogen gas molecules. A match ignites the hydrogen, generating an intense flame. The resulting heat powers a simple engine.

When the number is less than 3, the flames remain stable yet non-periodic. When the number is equal to or greater than 3, oscillation appears and the frequency monotonically decreases as the number increases. Moreover, the frequency remains in the range of 10–12 Hz, which expectedly matches the results of T.

The acoustic extinguisher works by using sound waves—a type of pressure wave—to push oxygen away from the source of a flame and spread it over a larger surface area. The acoustic fire extinguisher puts out flames using low frequency bass (30 to 60Hz) without relying on water or chemicals.

Oxygen is like food for fires – it makes them burn really bright. As wood burns, the mix of expanding gases and cellulose breaking down makes the pockets of trapped steam burst open from the wood, one by one. This is why you hear the crackling and popping noises.

Senior Member. The crackle of the fire is often used. But fires can snap, pop, roar and many other things.

In ‘The fire is crackling and the wood is hissing’ the words ‘crackling’ and ‘hissing’ are known as onomatopoeia.

If the sound could be used to separate the two, the fire would be starved of oxygen and, accordingly, would be snuffed out. Tran and Robertson explored the impact of different frequencies of sound on small fires.

While the concept of using sound waves to extinguish flames is not new, previous attempts to realize the principle – including efforts by teams at West Georgia University and the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) – had not been successful.

While ultra-high frequencies had little effect, the duo found that lower, bass frequencies – between 30 and 60 Hz – produced the desired extinguishing effect.