Watch: Students’ Amazing Invention Uses Sound to Extinguish Fire

George Mason Electrical Engineering seniors Viet Tran and Seth Robertson have created a remarkable device, a fire extinguisher that uses low-frequency sound waves to fight fire.

“I see this device being applied to a lot of things,” says Tran. “First off, I think in the kitchen it could be on top of a stove top. But eventually I’d like to see this being applied to maybe swarm robotics, where they’d be attached to a drone and that would be applied to forest fires or even building fires where you wouldn’t want to sacrifice human life.”

The device could also be useful for astronauts. “In space, extinguisher contents spread all over,” said Robertson. “But you can direct sound waves without gravity.”

Set to graduate this spring, Tran and Robertson now hold a preliminary patent application for their invention.

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