Is Water Flammable?

Question

I did a Health & Safety Course some years ago and I am sure that we were told that water can be inflammable in the right situation!
If you spray a very very fine mist of water onto a flame it becomes inflammable.
This is because (I need a person who knows a bit on chemistry to answer this one) the chemical reaction and breakdown of the water???
I know this may seem a silly question but I 'think' I remember this right?
Any answers appreciated

Answer 1

i think you're partly right. At extraordinarily high temperatures the bonds between the oxygen and hydrogen (the components in water) break and give you the two gases as separate entities. Seeing as Oxygen is one of the three things you need in fire, and Hydrogen is explosively flammable (see hindenburg disaster), at the right temp and with a fine mist, you have trouble on your hands
Having researched a little further, I think maybe water doesnt split like this. At least not unless it is subject to 'centre of the sun' extremes of heat.

Answer 2

Is Water Flammable

Answer 3

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RE:
Is Water Flammable?
I did a Health & Safety Course some years ago and I am sure that we were told that water can be inflammable in the right situation!
If you spray a very very fine mist of water onto a flame it becomes inflammable.
This is because (I need a person who knows a bit on chemistry to answer this one)...

Answer 4

No,water is not flammable under those conditions. However water is a better conductor of heat than air. Many compounds you encounter in chemistry have different properties from those of their components. Hydrogen and oxygen gases are both high-energy chemicals, which have a lot of stored energy. However, when they are combined to make water, the reaction is exothermic, and a lot of this stored energy is released as excess heat. So, water is a low-energy chemical, and thus does not burn.
Did you know that flour is really quite explosive? If flour is sprayed into the air and then ignited it will explode.

Answer 5

Water is 'hydrogen oxide' you can regard it as 'burned up hydrogen' you can't burn it any more.

However water can support burning, but inly by breaking it up first. Reactive metals will 'pull' oxygen from the water molecules if the metal is more reactive than hydrogen. Potassium can do this, and the heat generated is sufficient to ignite the hydrogen left behind (which then reacts with oxygen in the air to make water again!).

At high temperatures other less obviously reactive metals can do something similar. If the passive layer of oxide is breached in aluminium (for example if it melts) then the molten aluminium can react with water exlosively ( again releasing hydrogen which is itself explosive). This has been observed in naval warfare when aluminium structures have been hit by missiles and has also been suggested as a contributory factor for the explosive/catastrophic collapse of the World Trade Centre on 9/11.

Answer 6

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H2O is a Compound (Oxidised Hydrogen). The Elements making up a Compound have VERY different Properties to those of the Elements of their make up. Hydrogen is a Flammable gas, Oxygen gas is NOT. When they combine chemically, the product is a non-flammable liquid H2O which can be used to put out a fire. The 'H' has aleady been oxidised (burned), it can't be oxidised again and 'O' doesn't oxidise. As there's no 'C' involved, CO2 can't happen. (Look at Sodium (Na). With water it becomes highly reactive to form NaOH, a very corrosive liquid and Hydrogen gas. Chlorine (Cl) is a poisonous gas. When Na and Cl combine chemically, they form the compound NaCl...Salt..which you use on your dinner and you swim in water full of it....VERY different to the original Na and Cl elements !!

Answer 7

Water is NOT flammable, however if it was on a safety course was it anything to to with reactive metals or other substances which could react with water to give hydrogen gas. For example-for a fire in which sodium is involved it would take a fool to try and extinguish it with water as the sodium will react with the water generating a great deal more heat and hydrogen gas which would then explode therby making matters far worse.

Water will not burn under any curcumstances, it is the byproduct of the combustion of hydrogen.

Answer 8

Water is not flammable.

However, you are correct in saying that it can be dangerous in certain situations. For example, if you poured water onto burning oil, the results will be catastrophic. I'm not sure what the physical process is in this situation, but it will explode.

Never use water on a chip pan fire!

Answer 9

I'd say no. A few people said if you got the water hot enough, the hydrogen and oxygen would split, and then could combust. But when you burn something, you oxidize it (i.e. it combines with oxygen). I don't know for sure, but I'd guess that if you oxidized (burned) hydrogen, you might get water as the byproduct. So getting water hot enough to split into hydrogen and oxygen could theoretically be possible, but wouldn't you have to cool them off again to get them to combine back into water?

Answer 10

Water does not break down into it's chemical components even in the finest mist. However, experiments were carried out to see if it would enhance combustion when injected in small quantities to combustion engines. It was found to add power, but the quantities needed to be so precise and the temperature exactly right or the experiment didn't work.
To this effect, it is noticeable that in the rain, your car seems to be more responsive.