Scenario 1: Terrorists crash a plane into the upper floors of a high rise building creating a large fire. Firemen called to the scene trudge upstream the fleeing residents dressed in heavy coats and carrying heavy equipment only to get to the lowest floor on fire exhausted and after higher floors are involved.
Scenario 2: Terrorists crash a plane into the upper floors of a high rise building creating a large fire. A helicopter picks up a crate from a storage lot, flies to the building and hovers. Suddenly a barge of missiles come out of the crate and fly through the windows of the building. Once inside they explode covering every near by surface with a sticky jell. When the fire heats up the jell, the jell activates expanding into an insulating fire suppressing foam. Successive barrages cover the next higher and lower floors.
Variation 1: arm fired missiles for the firemen to use at factory fires. Variation 2: unmanned flying vehicle, greater volume but harder to calculate the amount of fuel, so as not to ad fuel to the fire Variation 3: fire suppressing bombs for carpet bombing the edge of forest fires. Variation 4: paint ball guns with the jell for home use by those that can’t figure out how to use standard fire extinguishers. Also lets the whole neighborhood get involved from a safe distance while waiting for the professionals. Also for the truly sick that like to go pain balling in forest fires.-- cjacks, Oct 09 2005 Adapt this Borate_20Bouncing_20Bettys [normzone, Jul 01 2010] Pain balling?-- 2 fries shy of a happy meal, Oct 09 2005 Scenario 3: Terrorists start a small fire on the top floor of a large building. The firefighters immediately scramble helicopters armed with fire suppressant missiles. The veteran fire fighters take careful aim and unleash a barrage of missiles upon the building, realising too late that their department has been infiltrated, and their missiles replaced by the garden variety....-- hidden truths, Oct 09 2005 [hidden] The garden variety? Just how big are the pests where you live? And also - would a barrage really be necessary for a small fire on top of a building?-- fridge duck, Oct 09 2005 Nice, [fridge duck].
What would the gel consist of? This would seem to be the most important detail in the invention and would be useful in itself, without the missiles.-- Adze, Oct 09 2005 These could also be used as weapons. Fire one of those into a building thats not on fire and it takes away all the oxygen, suffocating the people inside. I would assume you are using halon of course.-- Antegrity, Oct 10 2005 Pain Ball: Paint ball without the protective equipment. “Boy that stings.”-- cjacks, Oct 10 2005 I was wondering what happens to people trapped in the building when it fills with gel.-- soup-mug, Oct 10 2005 Fire suppressant jell: AKA refractory flapjack dough: (That’s pancakes for those of you that didn’t grow up in redneckville.) Dry mix magnesium oxide with carmine lake (or some other non-staining colorant for visibility). CarboSil would probably work as well though there can be a wetability issue. Mix with water, eggs, wheat gluten and baking soda. Let sit twenty minutes. Method of action: as it sits the wheat gluten cross links forming a gel. Upon application of heat the baking soda releases CO2 gas that forms little bubbles in the gel. At high enough temperature the proteins denature converting the gel into a solid matrix. The surface can char too a golden brown while the inside is still moist and chewy. (best served half baked) Washes off with water and is biodegradable (though the refractory material makes your stools as hard as bricks).-- cjacks, Oct 10 2005 //What would the gel consist of?// Custard, silly.-- wagster, Oct 10 2005 Well [wagster] refractory flapjack dough on the floor on fire, custard on the one above and strawberries on the next. High rise crepes. That ought to tell the terrorists they haven’t won. (besides it will give the fire fighters a reason to climb those stairs. (you can throw in a few donuts for the cops that investigate the scene afterwards.)) I had visions of firefighters spraying flapjack dough on house fires this morning. When asked why, they said it coated well, reduced charing by radiative heat transfer, blocked oxygen from getting to the flammables, and just plain tasted good during the cleanup. The trick was injecting the mix just before the pumps so that the impellers did the mixing.-- cjacks, Oct 11 2005 I'm picturing the Forest Service implementing this with ICBMs and or cruise missiles.-- BunsenHoneydew, Oct 13 2005 A bun for alternative uses of military technology, but knowing the limited accuracy of smart missle tech, I won't be standing on the sidelines spectating.-- normzone, Oct 13 2005 I thought that fire suppressing missiles already exist (these are truck-mounted and are fired like patriot missiles), so am I overlooking something original here? Oh, maybe the paintball extinguishers.-- spiraliii, Oct 14 2005 //pain balling// Yes. Pain balling. How about having the missiles launch some of that new-fangled "instant" biscuit dough that come in the cans at the grocer. After its done cooking and the fire's been extinguished by the expanding dough you can feed any displaced occupants and firefighters.-- Letsbuildafort, Oct 14 2005 Polyacrylamide gel is used for firefighting. There was an article in the Walll Street Journal a few years back about firefighters who drove house to house in advance of a wildfire and hosed the houses down with wet gel. It made the lawns green for years afterwards. This is the same gel in diapers. I am fascinated by the stuff. Missiles filled with it would be wonderful.-- bungston, Mar 13 2006 Please tell me they are not fired like "Patriot Missles" (Also known as the most expensive weapon system actively used that has NEVER had a verified kill.)-- Galbinus_Caeli, Mar 13 2006 your not supposed to call them terrorists.
They were simply trying a halfbaked idea of eliminating airports by directly landing in the top floors of sky scrapers. They even tested the building's stability a while before.-- pashute, Jul 01 2010 random, halfbakery