Fighting Fires With Polymers: Teacher's Notes

Activity: Visiting Your Local Firehouse

Safety: First and Foremost

If you choose to do any of the testing as a demonstration or as hands-on activities, it's essential to follow all safety precautions to the utmost. Students may need to be reminded that burns are painful and can be disfiguring, and trying any of these experiments (especially the cellulose nitrate, even as commercial flash paper sold in magic stores) on a larger scale can be fatal. It is our hope that in providing video footage of the more dangerous demonstrations, the need for individuals to do these in person will be nil, and thus students will be able to see the chemistry and learn from it without any risk whatsoever.

DISCLAIMER:
We offer this site as an educational tool. WE ARE NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY INJURY OR DAMAGE CAUSED TO ANY PERSON, DIRECTLY OR INDIRECTLY, RELATING TO ANY OF THE DEMOS OR EXPERIMENTS LISTED AT THIS SITE. YOU ARE WHOLLY RESPONSIBLE FOR YOUR SAFETY.

Full Disclaimer

Wear safety goggles at all times.
Provide a safety shield for protection of the students and of you.
Perform all experiments and demonstrations in a well-ventilated area, in open, still air. (That is, if you do this outdoors, a breezy day can be unpredictable and hazardous.)
Never ignite anything in a sealed or closed container.

Objectives

To learn about their local firefighters and localfirehouse
To learn about the equipment that firefighters use
To learn about the materials that are used to make the equipment that firefighters use
To understand the common causes of fires and how fires may be prevented

Materials

No materials are required

Method

Arrange a visit to your loal firehouse
Have the students review the pages in the firehouse on this site
Encourage the students to do some research on the web before the visit

Questions:

What training is required to be a firefighter? How long does the training take?
What are the firefighter's clothes made from? Is allteh clothing (gloves, pants, etc.) made from the same material?
Are there types of clothing that the firefighters cannot wear?
Is there special clothing for responding to chemical fires? Chemical spills?
How long does it take the firefighter to get dressed?
Where do you get the water to fight a fire?
Is water the only thing used to fight fires?
What are some of the common causes of fire?
How do you determine the cause of a fire?
How do you determine if it's safe to enter a burning building?
How do you know when a fire is "out"?
How is a fire reported? How long does it take for the fire department to respond?

Extensions:

Does your local fire department have a web page? If so, what type of information does it contain?
Will your local fire department arrange a demonstration, or a training session, on using fire extinguishers?
Do a web search to find the most common causes of fire in the United States.
Do a web search to find additional information about fire prevention.

Notes:

If the students have done other sections on this site the visit to the firehouse can be used to bring together topics such as how and why things burn, the products of fire and how polymers burn.
This activity can also be used together with a discussion of fire safety. There is a great dealof information about fire safety available on the web
It is important to have alternative activities planned in the case that the firefighters are called to a fire during your visit