A Bottle Of Water Can Set Your Car On Fire

This topic makes me remember some years ago in school, when our Physics teacher took us out into the sun to practice what looked like sorcery at the time .It was not sorcery, it was just Physics.

What did she do ?. She burnt a piece of paper with a lens  !!. This same thing can happen to your car, and two common items in your car can cause this.A bottle of water and your reading/recommended glasses .

A man opened his car and noticed that smoke was coming out of his chair, on proper inspection he noticed his glasses was the culprit. If he had not gotten there on time, his car would have been engulfed in flames and as usual, village people would be blamed .

I would explain why this is possible in simpler terms to those who are not science inclined .

When light passes through bottle of water or a reading glass (depending on the design and shape), it can converge and concentrate the light rays on one spot, in Physics this process is called “Refraction”.

The sun is very bright and hot.Imagine concentrating a sufficient amount of that energy on your car seat, or a piece of paper in your car, it would ignite within seconds by raising the temperature of that spot, if all the conditions are right (enough sunlight intensity, the material being in the focal length of the bottle or glasses etc).

This is not a hoax and it can happen .

What should you do to prevent this ?

-Always keep bottles of water(especially the transparent ones) away from sunlight, its better to cover it completely or put it in a bag because the direction of the sunlight might change before you get back to your car.
-Always keep your glasses in its box and not on your dashboard or seat .

-Try as much as possible to pack your car under a shade

Did you get enlightened ?
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