I know what will happen, but WHY does that happen?
Edit… should have proofed before posting
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Two properties of oil (grease and oil are basically the same) combined; oil floats on water, and oil burns hotter than the temp. at which water boils.
This means that if you pour water on a grease fire, the water goes *under* the grease, then quickly starts to boil because the grease (and the pan or whatever the fire started in) are very hot. Boiling water bubbles, and the bubbles are also underneath the grease, so as they rise and pop they throw little bits of burning oil around.
You’ve likely experienced something like this if you’ve ever cooked bacon or other meat in a pan, or vegetables in oil in a pan; there’s a bit of water and a bit of grease, and as the water starts to boil off it can fling hot oil onto you as it “pops”.
Dumping water on a grease fire is that, but more violent since it’s much hotter (usually when a non-on-fire pan ‘spatters’ everything is around the boiling point of water, or at least a lot closer than actively burning oil) so more water can boil and faster, and the oil is, well, *on fire*, which means it can spread the fire and do a lot more damage on contact.
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