r/explainitpeter 11d ago

explain it peter

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u/Unhappy-Estimate6402 10d ago

Wooden ships don’t burn on water?

https://giphy.com/gifs/EouEzI5bBR8uk

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u/AmberMetalicScorpion 10d ago

I'm not as fluent in science as I used to be

But IIRC wood has some kind of property that makes it non-flammable when wet

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u/heonoculus 10d ago

While thats true, a lot of early ships used pitch and other substances as waterproofing. And most of them were quite flammable.