Water extinguishes fire, Why ? Since it is made of oxygen and hydrogen !?
140717
Fire is the act of oxidizing fuel.  The hydrogen and oxygen are already bonded, so there's not fuel or oxygen.  Steam is just a state change, not a chemical reaction.
923706
Water is already oxidized hydrogen so it is the result of hydrogen already having been "burned".
543304
Hydrogen is highly flammable, burning at concentrations as low as 4% H2. When mixed with oxygen, hydrogen explodes upon ignition. A unique property of hydrogen is that its flame is nearly invisible in air. This makes it difficult to tell if a leak is burning, and carries the added risk that it is easy to walk into a hydrogen fire inadvertently.
982375
Hydrogen and oxygen, when combined in an appropriate mixture, will burn to form water.  By itself neither pure hydrogen nor pure oxygen will burn (they need an oxidizer and a reductant respectively).  Water is a stable chemical component that does not have the volatile characteristics of the elements that make up its composition (hydrogen and oxygen).
677445
A water molecule contains two elements: hydrogen and oxygen. Both elements have different electronegativities, which is a fancy word meaning how well they can attract electrons. Since oxygen has a higher electronegativity, it forces the electrons of the water molecule toward itself, giving the oxygen element a slight negative charge and the hydrogen atoms slight positive charges.\nBasically speaking, water itself is somewhat charged. This makes water what is called a polar molecule and allows it to conduct electricity. This also accounts for how well water adheres to itself (cohesion).\nHowever, this polarity is relatively small.
473126
Hydrogen. You can create it from water using only electricity so it's the cheapest fuel ever. When you explode it (during combustion), it mixes with oxygen to create...you guessed it...water (no polution).\n\nSo:\n1.Free\n2.No polutants\n\nHmmm...
140675
Cars powered by ordinary water...Time will come (most likely in the very near future) where water can be separated into its components economically. Water is made up of hydrogen and oxygen. Hydrogen is a very good fuel (sun's energy comes from hydrogen) and oxygen is needed for efficient combustion...The problem is, the bond between hydrogen and oxygen is so strong that it is still expensive to separate them as of now...Car makers though have started experimenting with cars powered by hydrogen but using fuel cells...Still an expensive proposition.
88222
Water. Water contains two hydrogens and one oxygen. It's technical name should be dihydrogen monoxide, but we knew about water before chemistry was officially developed.
168614
Hydrogen is a very dangerous compound, especially under pressure or concentrated.  When burned, hydrogen creates a violent exposion with oxygen that produces water.  Furthermore, hydrogen is a main part the most acidic compounds known to man such as hydrocloric acid.
131453
Fire needs three things fuel, oxygen, and heat.  If you put sand over a fire it cuts off its oxygen.  If you put water over fire it cuts of its heat or energy.  If you reach in and take out all the fuel it will distingusih.  I wouldn't try the last one though lol.
297721
trying to be a smart ass huh? well if you are not then here is the answer.\n\n"FREE" hydrogen and "FREE" oxygen mixed together is highly explosive, however a Hydrogen Oxygen "COMPOUND"(water) is not.
1137722
Fuel, Heat, Oxygen - Also known as the traditional fire triangle.\n\nFuel - Something that can be burned\n\nHeat - The fuel must be heated to the point that it can burn.  Yes, it's true that once the fire starts it can and does generate it's own heat, but if that heat were removed somehow (i.e. the application of water), the fire goes out.\n\nOxygen - Fire's need oxygen to burn.  This is either the oxygen in the air, or from the chemicals that are burning, such as oxidizers.  If you were to interrupt the oxygen with say another gas, such as CO2 (as in a CO2 fire extinguisher), or blanket the fuel with dry chemical, a fire blanket, foam, etc., the fire goes out.\n\nThere is actually a fourth component to fire, and that's the chemical chain reaction itself.  Adding this forth component changes the fire triangle to a fire tetrahedron.  If the chemical reaction is halted, say by adding Halon, FM-200, FE-13, or some other gaseous fire extinguishing agent, the fire goes out. (and NO, halon does not "suck" all the oxygen out of the air, there's much more to it than that.)\n\nThat all being said, I like hatingmsn's answer that you may also need a permit!  HEHE... good one and may actually be a fifth component!
606970
Ok, what gas is required for combustion??  OXYGEN!\nHydrogen and oxygen combine and release large amounts of energy/heat while form water in small amounts (in the form of vapor).  \n\nAs for other gases, carbon is the element "burning", but there must be oxygen present in the moluecule or in the environment to burn.\n\nThis is different for hydrogen in stars, which are undergoing fusion.
1060974
When hydrogen burns, it produces water.  That's the end result of the burning process.  It would be like you saying, seriously, why can't we cook already cooked bread to get fresh bread.  You already cooked it, it's not going to change anymore.\nWater also doesn't break apart into it's individual atoms very easily.  You either need electricity or heat hotter than the sun.  But if you do break it up, yep, it'll burn.  But it's not water then, it's 2 hydrogens and an oxygen.  And when it burns it'll make water.
242191
everything can burn at a high enough temp\nthey melt before burning because of physical properties\nit is part of the solid-liquid-gas chain\n***get smarter, dude, it is possible, have you ever thrown water on a fire that was 50,000 degrees?
1176147
In a fire, Oxygen is not the fuel, it is the oxidizer.  Depending upon what is burning, the fuel could be any number of things.\nOxygen does not burn, but is required for combustion.\n\nIn order for something to burn, 3 things are necessary,\n-Fuel\n-An oxidizer (Oxygen)\n-[activation] Energy\n\nUnless these 3 things are present, the object in question will not burn.\nIf we assume fuel and Oxidizer are plentiful, then the only thing left which will keep something from burning is that extra bit of energy needed to set off the reaction.  After one gets a fire going, usually, this energy is provided by the excess heat the fire generates, but it needs to be supplied initially by some form (for example, lighting a match to start light a candle).\nIf one were to take away the fire's ability to provide its own activation energy, it would go out unless supplemented by some outside source.\n\nWhen a gust of wind blow out a fire, it is blowing away the energy the fire needs to burn, it is cooling it off too much for it to continue burning.
22780
Thank you punnet pundit. I was thinking the same thing. \n\nWhen combining Hydrogen and Oxygen one will get water or hydrogen peroxide. Simple enough. But that's not all there is to it. Just mixing the two doesn't cut it. The mixture must first gain enough energy to react. This is called it's Activation Energy. Which is the amount of energy it needs to absorb in order to carry out a chemical reaction. In the case of water the reaction is spontaneous and once started will continue until there is no longer enough reactants to form products. \n\nIn the case of water the reaction is explosive and quite violent. Liquid Oxygen and Liquid Hydrogen are used in space ships, because the reaction is enough to give the rocket a signifigant amount of upward force. The product is steam really because the water is way above 212 degrees F. but if this is condensed onto something below that temperature you get pure water.\n\nHydrogen peroxide slowly over time can break down in light. That's all I really know about it.