Meet the Sonic Fire Extinguisher

How do you put out a fire?

It depends on what kind of fire.

According to Dummies.com, if you have kitchen fire, then most effective way is to close the oven door or put a lid on the pan. This will suffocate the oxygen. D’oh, everyone knows that, right? Then again, it’s from a site for dummies!

If it’s electrical fire, you smother it with a thick blanket or similar material. Then there are fire extinguishers.

But have you ever thought of fighting fire with bass?

By bass, I mean the sound with a very low pitch. As in the voice of a bass singer, the sound an instrument which emits a low-pitch sound. Not the fish.

Well, some dudes from George Mason University thought about having some fun with sound waves. At first, they thought that high-frequency sound waves would do the trick. After all, these kinds of sound waves can break glasses, yeah?

They thought wrong.

So they tried bass, and thus the sonic fire extinguisher was born.

While the sonic fire extinguisher put out only a small flame, these guys may be on to something, and if you think about it, this type of firefighting equipment would probably be safer than the current fire extinguishers we have at home.

What do you think? Impressed or not?