Naked Science Forum

Non Life Sciences => Chemistry => Topic started by: neilep on 09/01/2008 19:45:14

Title: How Does Fire Retardant Do What It Does?
Post by: neilep on 09/01/2008 19:45:14

Hi all,


Just saw a prog about how they make fake leather fire retardant !!..I know ..I know !!...I can tell you're all jealous at my Bohemian Lifystyle !!

Anyway....what they did not say was how the retardant works !!...so...how does it work ?

It passed the test in that when set alight it had to extinguish itself within two seconds....it did...that's nice !!

Title: How Does Fire Retardant Do What It Does?
Post by: techmind on 03/08/2008 23:02:35

I don't know for sure, but I imagine that the fire-retardant is some chemical which thermally decomposes (i.e. when it gets hot) to release a gas which smothers the fire (by displacing the oxygen). Guess the gas might be CO2 (or HCl ?), but I'm sure Wikipedia or some other site can fill in the details...