Hitting a fire with some kickin’ bass sounds like a dumb way to put it out, but as you can see from the video above, Seth Robertson and Viet Tran made it work. As shown by New York Magazine, they even made it a portable system, and they’ve shown up the government’s mad science department in the process.
Seriously, DARPA’s been working on this for years, and in fact, Robertson and Tran used the same principles. Their portable system is pointed at the fire and produces deep, low bass, 30 to 60 Hz. This creates a wave of air pressure, essentially pushing away the oxygen the fire needs to burn. No oxygen, no fire.
Probably the most impressive aspect of their setup is that it’s portable; you can carry this around with ease. That said, though, they’re not remotely done testing yet; so far, they’ve only used it on fires created with rubbing alcohol. That said, it’s a dramatic demonstration of the principle, and it’s further proof that we’ll soon be putting out fire just by pointing speakers at it.