> > After the cast party I went to on Saturday, some of us went to a girl's house and sat outside around a fire. One guy took out a bag with candles and a coffee can; he broke up the candles in the can and placed the can in the fire. After the wax was bubbling, he threw water over it. It made flames about a foot high, which was impressive because the bonfire was really small. But he said that was nothing... and threw water over it again and it made a
> > **nine*foot*high*mushroom*cloud*of*fire** Wow. Basically, I was wondering if anyone knew why the water made it combust. Actually, he may have used lemonade the second time, but I think he said water usually does it. And has anyone seen this happen? It was quite impressive.
> >
> > Ga"I stood there in shock for a second or two, then grabbed my friend and wouldn't let go."halia
>
> That's what you get any time you throw water on an oil fire. It's a bad, bad idea.
>
> Brunnen-"recites, 'dry powder, CO2 and foam are for use on Class B fires'"G

That doesn't explain it entirely. I'm with Gahalia's original question. Why would *water* explode a small, bubbling candlewax fire into a Nine Foot Mushroom Firecloud of Doom?

I suppose that if it is a Class B fire, the part which is ignited (prior to the water-dumping) is the vapour-air bubble immediately above the wax. You'd think water in a sufficient quantity should *decrease* the overall heat-energy content (of the exothermic combustion reaction) and bring it closer to going out. Instead, the water vaporizes explosively and in fact seems to fuel the explosion. Huh?