How does water extinguish fire?

My curiousity has lead me to do a little research on why water is used to put out fire. We use water to extinguish domestic fire, even water is one of the trademarks of the fire-fighters. But how does does water actually do the job?

Firstly, we have to understand that fire is a form of chain reaction which requires heat, fuel and oxygen to take place. It is the product of heated flammable materials(the fuel) reacting with any nearby oxygen. This reaction produces some substances like carbon-dioxide, carbon-monoxide and ash; releasing heat and light- which is Fire!



And as long as there is more fuel, more oxygen to react with and enough heat to sustain the reaction, the fire will continue.

Now, when water is applied to the fire, it covers the fuel(the flammable material) creating a barrier and as a result, prevents oxygen from reaching the fire. When the supply of oxygen is stopped, the fire reaction will then slow down and if it remains like that, will die finally.

Also the fire could still be put out through evaporative cooling by the water because, for the fire to be able to boil the water to evaporative state, it would need to apply a lot of heat energy, and when the water evaporates, it carries the heat along thereby cooling the fire. This will slow down the fire and help to put it out.

NOTE: not all types of fire can be extinguished by water. it depends on the source of fuel. for instance, an electric fire cannot be put out by water because water is a conductor of electricity.

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