Water can burn when 'charged up' with batteries?

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SUMMARY

The discussion centers around a viral claim that water can burn after being "charged" with batteries, specifically referencing a video where two batteries are submerged in water for 30 minutes. Participants express skepticism about the validity of the experiment, suggesting it may be a hoax involving alcohol instead of water. The consensus is that the experiment is easily reproducible and does not yield the claimed results, with many users advising against attempting it due to safety concerns regarding battery leakage and potential hazards.

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This discussion is beneficial for science educators, safety professionals, and anyone interested in debunking viral science myths or understanding the chemistry behind battery reactions.

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i found this online, he puts two batteries in a glass of water for 30 minutes, then removes the batteries, and the water lights with a flame. Its been favorited by 6000 people so it seems to be popular. How does that work? i presume that its a type of electrolysis?

EDIT: DOES NOT WORK!
 
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I am highly, highly skeptical that it is actually water burning.
Due to the simplicity of this ‘experiment’, it is very easy to reproduce it oneself and disprove the claim.

I think the video may be a fake.
On video, water and alcohol look identical, so it would be easy to claim it is water in the cup when, in fact, it is alcohol.
 
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mrjeffy321 said:
I am highly, highly skeptical that it is actually water burning.
Due to the simplicity of this ‘experiment’, it is very easy to reproduce oneself and disprove it.

I think the video may be a fake.
On video, water and alcohol look identical, so it would be easy to claim it is water in the cup when, in fact, it is alcohol.

good point! this should have gone in the debunking section. I'll try to reproduce it, but I'm not optomistic anything will happen.
 
I have another theory. If you notice, in the video, he specifically states to leave the batteries in the water for thirty to forty minutes. And if I'm right, the batteries which were shown on the video were energizer, which cannot be charged, for they have a chance of exploding or catching on fire. What if the water soaked through the outer covering of the batteries and dissolved the acids in the batteries? then that would certainly enable the water to "burn" for a few seconds. He might have even added more batteries and left them in, increasing the potentiality for the water to "burn" before he filmed the stunt and put it online. Then, all he had to do was do the short version: Fill a glass of water and put two batteries in it. Then, stop recording, switch it with the "charged" glass of water and add two batteries, start filming again, remove the two batteries, and light it on fire.
 
It does not work, i looked it up elsewhere, and if you read the comments loads just say 'does not work'.

Think how many people have wasted batteries trying this, its only been up a week and its had over 1,300,000 views :biggrin:, i got pretty close to trying it myself.
 
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This is a hoax. Moving to skepticism/debunking, but I'm not even sure that's necessary.

I don't watch a lot of YouTube, but is there a lot of this type of thing there? This isn't the first YouTube science experiment hoax we've seen.
 
Haven't you ever heard of firewater? :biggrin:

Yes, it is alcohol.
 

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