Firefighters Say Leaving a plastic water bottle in your car is risky

Plastic water bottles are not environmentally friendly, but they are still bought and used and Firefighters are reminding the public not to leave plastic water bottles in their cars. When the heat, sun, and the bottle lines up just right it can cause a small fire. If the sun is strong enough, a bottle can act like a lens that channels light into a high-powered beam, strong enough to burn a car’s upholstery. The water bottle is optically almost-perfect shape for a lens.” After sunlight passes through a car window, it can hit a seat with about 600 watts per square meter of energy, which is roughly equivalent to the heat generated by a small electric space heater. While fire-retardant materials inside a vehicle would likely prevent it from igniting, the water bottle-turned-laser could leave behind a nasty burn mark. For a flame to catch, the liquid in the bottle must be clear so that a sufficient amount of light can pass through…..Ed

Source: Cheryl Santa Maria /Photo: Paulo Valdivieso flicker