why does adding cold water into boiling oil set things on fire?

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Pretty much the title. Chemically speaking what’s going on when this happens?

In: Chemistry

13 Answers

Anonymous 0 Comments

The water doesn’t set the oil on fire.

What the water does is flash boil into steam, carrying a fine mist of oil with it.

If there’s any open flame, this fine mist of oil catches fire almost as well as a gas, so it also burns rather spectacularly.

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