A report by the American Chemical Society at their March meeting, was on = =0A= revisiting an obsevation made 200 years ago that fire reacted to electrical= =0A= waves in the vicinity .=0A= =0A= "Scientists today described a discovery that could underpin a new genre of = =0A= fire-fighting devices, including sprinkler systems that suppress fires not = =0A= with water, but with zaps of electric current, without soaking and =0A= irreparably damaging the contents of a home, business, or other structure. = =0A= Reporting at the 241st National Meeting & Exposition of the American =0A= Chemical Society (ACS), Ludovico Cademartiri, Ph.D., and his colleagues in = =0A= the group of George M. Whitesides, Ph.D., at Harvard University, picked up = =0A= on a 200-year-old observation that electricity can affect the shape of =0A= flames, making flames bend, twist, turn, flicker, and even snuffing them = =0A= out. However, precious little research had been done over the years on the = =0A= phenomenon.=0A= =0A= =0A= =0A= Fighting out of control fires could become faster and=0A= more eco-friendly with an unusual technique that=0A= snuffs out flames using blasts of electrical waves.=0A= Credit: iStock=0A= =93Controlling fires is an enormously difficult challenge,=94 said Cademart= iri, =0A= who reported on the research. =93Our research has shown that by applying = =0A= large electric fields we can suppress flames very rapidly. We=92re very =0A= excited about the results of this relatively unexplored area of research.= =94 =0A= "=0A= =0A= =0A= =0A= www.acs.org search for Electrical Wave Blaster=0A= =0A= I'm still not convinced wandering around with a 600W amplifier strapped to = =0A= your back does much other than impair your hearing.=0A= =0A= Colin=0A= =0A= --=0A= cdb, 3/07/2009=0A= =0A= --=0A= =0A= =0A= =0A= =0A= colin@btech-online.co.uk=0A= =0A= -- =0A= http://www.piclist.com PIC/SX FAQ & list archive=0A= View/change your membership options at=0A= http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist=0A= .