Chemistry Experiments - Burning Fat Explosion

90% of all accidents happen in the home. There are many statistics that point out the many dangers and risks in a household, particularly the kitchen. The housewife has left a frying pan with fat on the hob and run to answer the phone. Just to avoid all arguments, it could just as easily be the house husband who forgets the pan. After a time, the pan with the hot fat will grab your attention with an acrid smell, sooty smoke and/or the beeping smoke alarm. In the kitchen, the burning pan. And now a little quiz: Which reaction is the right one in this case?
A - Cover with a towel
B - Extinguish with water
C - Cover with a lid

If the flames are still low, option A may be a possibility, but option C, covering the flames with lid is definitely the best one. It takes away the Oxygen supply needed by the fire to burn. Should anyone have chosen option B, we hope that they will never put it into practice – water puts out fires, yes, but not in this case as the following experiment shows.
n a builders' hut (a wooden wagon on wheels typical for German building sites, used to accommodate the on-site workers and their cups of tea / lunch, etc., during the working day), fat is heated in a cooking pot up to its burning point. Above the pot is a contraption that holds a cup of water, which can be remotely released to tip into the pot. Once the fat has caught fire, the chain is pulled and the water pours into the burning fat.

The burning fat has such a high temperature that it converts the water to steam immediately on hitting its surface. Steam takes up many more times the room of liquid water – one litre of water converts to 1,700 litres of steam. Evaporating so quickly, the rising steam takes with it fat molecules which instantly catch fire. The result is clearly visible as a combustion in the image, which will cover up to two thirds of an interior space such as that of the builders' hut. The result can be severe burns and even death.

Any burning fat in your kitchen should never be extinguished with water. Use a lid to cut off the Oxygen supply and leave the pot standing on the (switched off!) hob until it has completely cooled down. Removing the lid to soon can lead to repeated ignition of the fat. If it is a bigger fire, always call the fire brigade. Never bring smoking fat into contact with water either, as it could be just about to ignite. The steam resulting from adding water would disseminate the fat more finely and potentially enable ignition.
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