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Question:

Fire Extinguisher making magnesium powder fire worse?

I was at work and we have a bandsaw that we use to cut magnesium. After some time some magnesium powder builds up on the inside of the saw. As most of us know, magnesium is highly flammable. One day a worker decided to cut iron (we never cut anything other than magnesium on the saw) causing a spark which led to the magnesium to light up. We rushed towards the fire extinguisher to try to extinguish it, but it made it worst and the fire/sparks became bigger. All that aside we managed to cut off the power and use water. We put off the fire and everyone was safe. I was wondering as to why the Fire Extinguisher backfired (no pun intended). I don't know what's in the fire extinguisher or if there are different types. I'm just asking out of curiosity. Thanks.

Answer:

Not even during my worst acid trip have I done that!
I tried a lot of cleaners without any success. I finally set them out with the trash bought new for $3.99 each at Walmart.
Yeah that's no problem - you could put Seeker's avatar there too!

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