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| - Fact Check: Why you should never leave a hand sanitiser bottle in your car
Several posts on social media claim that a bottle of sanitiser can cause fire in a car. Speaking to experts and looking into the material safety data of hand sanitisers, India Today Anti Fake News War Room (AFWA) found that it is extremely unlikely that a bottle of sanitiser will burst into fire on its own. But there are several ifs and buts.
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India Today Fact Check
It's extremely unlikely that a small bottle of sanitiser will burst into fire on its own. But if the bottle is not airtight, and the leaking vapour fills the car, even a small spark can cause a fire.
As Covid-19 deaths continue to soar unabated despite the scorching summer, initial hopes that the coronavirus would not be able to survive the sweltering tropical heat have evaporated into thin air. People have realised that masks and sanitisers would remain an essential part of their survival kits in the near future too.
But even as we're getting used to carrying a bottle of sanitiser everywhere, several posts on social media claim it can cause fire in your car. Scary images of cars up in flames, allegedly caused by sanitisers, are doing the rounds on social media, adding to the panic.
Police are still investigating the reason behind a tragic accident in Delhi in which the car caught fire and the driver lost his life. Some people believe this too was due to the use of sanitiser.
But can a bottle of sanitiser cause fire in your car on a hot sunny day because it is primarily made up of alcohol which is extremely flammable?
Speaking to experts and looking into the material safety data of hand sanitisers, India Today Anti Fake News War Room (AFWA) found that the answer in one word is NO.
It is extremely unlikely that a bottle of sanitiser will burst into fire on its own. But there are several ifs and buts. And it's not a good idea to leave your sanitiser bottle on the dashboard of your car. Read on to know why.
The science of catching fire
How much heat does it take for a sanitiser bottle to "burst into flames on its own"? Well, it's much, much more than how hot a car gets after being parked outdoors for hours in the torrid Indian summer.
The lowest temperature at which any substance ignites spontaneously in a normal atmosphere without an external source of ignition, such as a flame or spark, is called auto-ignition temperature. The auto-ignition temperature of ethyl alcohol in sanitisers is 363°C. That's so hot that even metals such as tin, lead and cadmium will melt into liquid before reaching that point.
Different brands of sanitisers could have different concentrations of alcohol but mostly it is in the range of 60 to 80 per cent. So the basic science of combustion would not change.
Cars parked in the sun during summers can get very hot. An interesting study about how cars can hit deadly temperatures says they can become hot enough to fry an egg or cause third degree burns or even, kill a child.
But still, 363°C is way beyond that. Before reaching that temperature, most things in your car except the metal components would burn down to ashes.
"Theoretically, a bottle of sanitiser bursting into fire on its own in a hot car is extremely unlikely - if not impossible," confirms renowned fire expert DK Shammi, who is also a fire advisor to the Government of India.
But there is a catch, he warns.
Are sanitisers in cars still dangerous?
Imagine a person whose car is parked outdoors on a hot sunny day for a few hours with an open bottle of sanitiser that he forgot on the dashboard. The person enters the car, and before driving away, decides to light a cigarette. The car goes up in smoke the next moment.
Before trying to understand what changed this time, we need to know about another term of science called "flash point".
Flash point is the minimum temperature at which a liquid forms a vapour above its surface in sufficient concentration that it can be ignited.
The flash point of alcohol in sanitiser is just 21°C. The day temperature in Delhi these days is double than that. What that means is, if left opened, a bottle of sanitiser will evaporate quickly into the atmosphere due to heat.
What is true about alcohol in sanitiser in liquid form is not true when it evaporates and turns into a highly flammable vapour trapped inside a hot car.
"If the sanitiser bottle kept in a car is not airtight, the vapours will keep on accumulating inside the closed car and it will become like a gas chamber. Then all it will take to start a fire is a small spark which can be from ignition or even horn," explains Shammi.
So people who warn you about not leaving your sanitiser bottle in the car are not off the mark. Safety guidelines about sanitisers clearly state that it should be stored in a cool, well ventilated place with the container tightly closed.
If you're obsessive about wiping everything with sanitiser including car keys to ward off coronavirus, wait for a few seconds and allow it to dry completely before turning on the ignition.
Moreover, apart from the danger of fire, there is another reason why it makes sense to store the sanitiser in a cool place. Exposure to extreme heat can alter the chemical composition of the sanitiser diluting its disinfectant properties.
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