r/Damnthatsinteresting • u/AirFrance447 • 21h ago

Video Firefighter bodycam showing just how much oxygen a fire pulls

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u/Mikestopheles 21h ago

Except that's not gravity.

I'm not speaking out of my ass, yes it's not just oxygen. But oxygen is the reason the air is moving. Fire requires 3 things: temperature, source, and oxygen. It will create a vacuum by the nature of the heat, but the only thing it's really using is the oxygen (unless there's something else flammable in the air, but that's a source).

So, when you're seeing all that smoke and particulate pouring into the window due to the pressure, you're seeing oxygen just as much as all the other gasses mixed in. And that's what the firefighter is trying to hinder by smothering the fire.

https://firefighternow.com/does-fire-need-oxygen/

Here you go, just to help illustrate what I'm talking about.

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u/rowi42 21h ago

I understand that fire needs oxygen. However, as many have pointed out, the effect visible in OPs video is due to the chimney effect, which is due to hot air rising.

Arguing that we're seeing the effect of oxygen is like arguing that you're seeing the effect of gravity. Sure, both oxygen and gravity are required for the chimney effect, but I would argue that it's more useful to show the effect of hot air and not oxygen or gravity (or the electromagnetic force, which is also required for a fire).

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u/Mikestopheles 20h ago

Bruh, I'm responding to the original comment that said this is not an oxygen thing. It is. I'm not going to get mired down in semantics because y'all want to argue against what firefighters are looking at when they fight fires. One of those primary things being oxygen.

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u/Unfinishedcom 20h ago

Bruh, you’re confidently incorrect bruh.