Eli5 why Is water which is 66.6% Hydrogen great for firefighting even though Hydrogen is highly inflammable?
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A super ELI5 answer:
Lots of elements are flammable because when there’s enough energy they really want to make new friends with other elements. They find those other elements, join them in a very strong hug, and release some of their own energy in the process.
But once those elements find each other and are caught in a strong hold, they’re not often looking to hug other atoms in the same way. It usually takes very special circumstances for them to want to break up their current hug and hug someone else. Once they find a stable hug with a good friend, they’re often happy to stay there.
Hydrogen is pretty comfortable hugging oxygen. Even in the face of a high-energy fire, it still wants to hang out with oxygen.
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