Menu

The Fire Triangle: Teacher Guide

This resource includes 1 file:

Classroom Investigation 01: The Fire Triangle Teacher Guide (pdf, 2 MB)

This teacher guide supports teachers in facilitating a 5E investigation where students conduct four experiments to observe impact of limiting one of each side of the fire triangle – oxygen, fuel, and heat - to understand the needs of fire. Then, using a metal screen, students look at a candle flame to observe combustion.

Context

The fire triangle is critical to ­fire ­fighting and fi­re investigation. Fire professionals must understand what fire needs to burn and how eliminating one leg of the ­fire triangle can extinguish fire. Why do ­fire ­fighters use water to put out a fi­re? What leg of the ­fire triangle are they eliminating?

Just like a candle flame can leave a soot pattern on a ceramic tile, ­fire investigators look for these types of patterns on walls, furniture, and other parts of structures to help them determine the point of origin of the ­fire, or the location where the fi­re started. Knowing where are started helps investigators understand how it was caused.

Questions

  • What are the three things a fire must have to burn?

Problem to be solved

  • Firefighters and fire investigators need to know basic fire science to both fight fires and to uncover the source of a burn.

 

Be sure to explore the video showing this classroom investigation as well as the student guide.

Find this resource
More like this:
Resource Library

The Science of Thermal Runaway

Engineering Solutions

From hoverboards to cell phones, portable electrical power makes life as we know it possible. But it can come with some dangerous possibilities. Let’s investigate, experiment and search for solutions.

The Science of Extraction to E-Waste

Trade-Offs & the Supply Chain

Safe and sustainable cities will depend on lithium-ion batteries to power our modern lives. But what are the costs?

The Science of Fire Forensics

Claims, Evidence and Reasoning

There’s been a fire. Your job is to figure out where the fire started, and how.

The Science of Fire Safety

Fire safety is a complex problem without a single answer. Learn how to engineer and design fire safe spaces.

Loading...