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marble falls

(57,055 posts)
Fri May 1, 2020, 08:38 PM May 2020

Pig poops out a pedometer, starts a fire

Pig poops out a pedometer, starts a fire

By Mindy Weisberger - Senior Writer March 09, 2020

Copper in the battery sparked the pigpen blaze.

https://www.livescience.com/pig-stars-battery-fire.html

<snip>

The firebug (firehog?) had swallowed a pedometer worn by one of its fellow pigs to demonstrate that the animals were free range, the BBC reported.

But after the pig excreted the pedometer, copper in its battery sparked a flame in the pig dung and dried hay bedding on March 7 at approximately 2 p.m. local time, according to the BBC. The fire spread to cover about 807 square feet (75 square meters) of the farmyard before it was contained, according to The Independent.

Four pigpens caught fire at the farm, located near Leeds in the county of Yorkshire, and fire crews from nearby Tadcaster and Knaresbororough rushed in with hoses to "save the bacon," the North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service tweeted on March 7.

<snip>


In Yorkshire, firefighters responded to a blaze that enveloped several pigpens at a local farm on March 7.(Image credit: Russell Jenkinson/North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue)

In recent years, lithium-ion batteries in personal devices such as cellphones and vape pens have spontaneously combusted, sometimes causing severe burns and even broken bones, Live Science previously reported.

<snip>



No animals were hurt in this event.

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Pig poops out a pedometer, starts a fire (Original Post) marble falls May 2020 OP
Now THAT's a headline underpants May 2020 #1
Indeed it is chia May 2020 #2
And in a serious science journal! marble falls May 2020 #4
brings new meaning to the word shitfire... Thomas Hurt May 2020 #3
Shit howdy, it does too! 2naSalit May 2020 #5
Um wait -- copper is a non-sparking metal. eppur_se_muova May 2020 #6
No but it gets hot when it shorts a battery. marble falls May 2020 #7
Again, true of any conductor. Nothing to do with copper specifically. nt eppur_se_muova May 2020 #8
....... marble falls May 2020 #9

eppur_se_muova

(36,256 posts)
6. Um wait -- copper is a non-sparking metal.
Fri May 1, 2020, 11:10 PM
May 2020

That's why ammo casings are brass, and special beryllium-copper tools are used when working around fuels.

The battery could have caused an electrical spark, but that could have involved almost any conductor.

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