OK, I have heard from a person who never tried it but was told and certainly believed that if you were camping and wanted an ice cold drink that you could bury it about 6 inches underground, then cover it up with dirt, pour gasoline over a large area above it (he described 3-4ft. diameter) then light the gasoline. Supposedly, the resulting large but brief fire would pull all the heat from the ground and drinks below. This seems highly implausible but I thought I'd check with you guys first before making fun of him for being so gullible. Has anyone ever heard of (or tried) this?
2006-10-13 06:59:48 · 6 answers · asked by texaspicker0 3 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Physics
lol.......interesting question!
No, it won't work. Heat flows from warm to cold, not cool to hot, which is what you describe. The earth is relatively cool, even 6" or so down. Building a fire above it will allow some of the heat from the fire to thermally transfer downward. Most of the heat will radiate out and up, but some will go down.
The cooler dirt will certainly never transfer any heat to the warmer layers above it.
Now, if you could levitate the fire above your head a few feet and have it stay lit, you'd probably feel a cool breeze whooshing past you. This is because the air that is being drawn into the fire is being drawn to the source, and the source willd raw rfom places from the underside of the fire. This air will be from the surroundings and in that case might feel cool'ish, but it won't be cold.
Someone played a funny joke on you!
Hope this helps tho.
2006-10-13 07:30:02 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
His theory of using fire to produce something Ice cold is idiotic. Especially using gasoline on the ground buried six inches. I'd dare him to try it in his yard and watch him burn his yard up.
2006-10-13 14:10:26 · answer #2 · answered by bardstale 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I don't know about the cooling effect of burning gasoline, but I know about the burning effect of the fire which will burn down the whole area!
When Gasoline evaporates, it does coll down its surrounding, but burning it will probably just produce heat.
2006-10-13 14:05:33 · answer #3 · answered by smarties 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
never heard of it but I can imagine that it works. The gasoline evaporates this will cool the ground
2006-10-13 14:02:46 · answer #4 · answered by gjmb1960 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It certainly will not work. If this were true wouldn't the basement of a burning building turn very cold?
Feel free to mock your friend with impunity.
2006-10-13 14:06:58 · answer #5 · answered by runningman022003 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
No.
2006-10-13 14:14:04 · answer #6 · answered by ag_iitkgp 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋