Did you know that a transparent water bottle can set your car on fire?

With increasing encouragement for people to lead a healthy and physically active life, nothing is more common than keeping a bottle of water in the car to satisfactorily hydrate. But did you know that this attitude could be putting your mode of transport at risk?

In addition to the fact that the plastic used to make bottles can react with the heat of the sun and release toxic products into the water, there is a risk that it can act as a magnifying glass and start a fire.

Fire bottle

As absurd as it may seem, this happened to a battery technician who was on his lunch break in the US. Dioni Amuchastegui was sitting in his truck when he noticed smoke inside the cabin. When looking for the blame for the fire outbreak, he was surprised to see that it was the water bottle that was refracting sunlight and burning the padding.

The bank earned a small mark at one point under the bottle, but luckily nothing worse happened on the day. If Amuchastegui were not there, his truck would probably be unusable now. After the incident, he replicated the event while filming, as seen in the video below, which was posted on the Facebook of the company where he works.

An Oklahoma State Fire Department also conducted some tests after the case, confirming that the risk exists. Not surprisingly, they managed to reach an incredible 100 ° C, just by directing a bottle of water under the sun.

David Richardson, one of the firefighters, said “it does not take long for a fire outbreak to start if conditions are favorable; directly depends on the alignment of the bottle with the sun. ” Another irrelevant factor is air temperature, Richardson said, because the water in the bottle works like a magnifying glass that directs the sun's rays at a specific point; that is, it doesn't matter if it's winter or summer.

On the other hand, the good news is that the phenomenon does not happen when the bottles are colored, so his recommendation is that if you use transparent containers to carry water in your car, put them under the seat when you park under the sun.

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