A real question on water!!?

Question

I always ponder over this question, might be a person who is good with chemistry can answer this well.

Which is the most inflamable gas?
Ans: Hydrogen (H)

Which is the best combustion supporter?
Ans: Oxygen

Chemical formula of Water is H2O, ie. Water is made up of Hydrogen and Oxygen. But still Water is used as a fire extinguiser and does not get ignited. Can some one clear me with this question?

Answer 1

Simple really...the H has already burned! That's what formed the water.

Burning is a chemical reaction...basically elements recombine w/ other elements. The water is the end result of the burning, and cannot burn further.

Answer 2

The bond between the H2 and the O is very stable only a more volatile element than H2 (like potassium) can persuade O to break free.

You can't burn water because water is already an oxide, to ignite is to rapidly oxidize (combine with oxygen).

Adding more O to H2O makes hydrogen peroxide H2O2 which is very unstable and as a result corrodes anything that can be oxidized on contact. But H2O2 isn't manufactured by adding oxygen to water, it's reduced from other more complex chemicals down to H2O2.

If you look the stuff in the drugstore (hydrogen peroxide) is only a 3% solution, it's used in industry and rocketry in higher concentrations, but is considered a hazardous material because it's corrosive, can cause chemical burns and it exudes free oxygen (O2) out of itself which jacks up the risk of spontaneous fire.

Answer 3

I'll see if I can help....
This has more to do with the properties of water and fire. Fire needs oxygen/air to burn; without it, the fire goes out. SO, water is a liquid and essentially "displaces" the oxygen/air. In other words, the water "drowns" the fire.
I'd imagine other liquids could work just as well (as long as it's not flammable), but water is all around us and, so, easy to get when in a rush to put out a fire. So, while I don't know for sure, I bet something like milk could probably put out a fire (PLEASE don't try this- I'm just guessing).
There are times when water doesn't work- for instance, I've always heard you shouldn't put out a grease fire (in a frying pan) with water. I think this might just be because it could cause it to splatter and burn a person, though (again, I'm guessing a little bit on this).
I hope this helps.

Answer 4

This is due to the fact that in H2O both Hydrogen and Oxygen have their valencies satisfied and they do not need to react any more. The property of Hydrogen to catch fire is because of its ability to react and similarly Oxygen supports combustion only because of its ability to react. Thus when both have their valencies satisfied they do not show the said properties.
Secondly, H2O is a compound and the properties of a compound are different from the atoms they are made up of.

Answer 5

How about that fact that hydrogen will when mixed with oxygen will explode upon ignition.

Comment to dumb axx who answered later on.
Irreversible are u a moron? Get out your dictionary sweetheart before u assume you are a genius. Who was your Chemistry teacher? I'm sure he's proud.

USAGE The words inflammable and flammable both mean ‘easily set on fire’. It is, however, safer to use flammable if one wishes to avoid ambiguity, as the in- prefix of inflammable can give the impression that the word means ‘non-flammable’.

Answer 6

Because hydrogen and oxygen combine into a COMPOUND.
Compounds quite often display physical properties that have nothing to do with the elements that make them up. Another example is sodium chloride, sodium is a volatile, explosive metal and chlorine is a deadly gas. They combine to make table salt which is very stable and in fact necessary to human life.

Answer 7

thats simple.
the inflammable part of water ie the hydrogen is saturated with oxygen meaning it doesnt need any more oxygen so it will not burn.(ie water itself is not flammable)
but thats only part of why water is used as fire extinguisher , other factors:
#it is ubiquitously available where there is civilisation.
#it is liquid at room temperature ,in this state a certain mass could cover more area than if it was solid (so it can effectively be used to physically separate flammable substances from their air supply).
# it doesnt produce any toxic substance from being heated or exposed to burning material.

obviously from looking at these factors there are other compounds that might be as effective or more effective than water as fire extinguishers.

Answer 8

well fire is a vchemical reaction, and because water is what scientist know as a "compound molecule" is mad e up of both hydrogen and oxygen. So, despite their abilities as seperate atoms, once together they become somethign new and their abilities change as well, so because fire cannot difuse the oxygen from the hydrogen or vice versa, it dies because it's air is cut off :)

Answer 9

Burning is what happens when oxygen combines at the molecular level with its fuel, the answer is that in water hydrogen that has already combined with oxygen, it is already "burned"

Answer 10

Which is the most inflamable gas?
Ans: Hydrogen (H)
WRRRRONGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG !!!

Hydrogen is totally highly flamable dangerous GAS...
Its just Exploasive... like BOOOOOOOM...

Thats y in many places they prefer to use HELIUM instead of Hydrogen, coz they don wanna take the risk of explosions...
Its just dangerous gas...

BTW who is ur Chemistry teacher?