this post was submitted on 28 Sep 2023
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Showerthoughts

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A "Showerthought" is a simple term used to describe the thoughts that pop into your head while you're doing everyday things like taking a shower, driving, or just daydreaming. The best ones are thoughts that many people can relate to and they find something funny or interesting in regular stuff.

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We have cars for earth, boats for water and planes for air. Nothing for fire. Not that I want to ride on fire.

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[–] [email protected] 58 points 11 months ago (2 children)
[–] [email protected] 14 points 11 months ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 4 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

Dang indeed. That is crazy. Kudos to those firefighters!

Any pics of the outside of these trucks?

ETA: I found some. I guess theyre called brush trucks. Pretty much a BIG truck with firefighting accessories. How do the tires not melt? https://unruhfire.com/brush-trucks/

[–] [email protected] 6 points 11 months ago

Here is an alternative Piped link(s):

The vehicles used by bushfire (wildfires in Nth America) fighters are designed to drive through and survive fire.

Piped is a privacy-respecting open-source alternative frontend to YouTube.

I'm open-source; check me out at GitHub.

[–] [email protected] 51 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Aren't rockets vehicles that ride on fire (that they create themselves)?

[–] [email protected] 16 points 11 months ago (3 children)

By that logic, anything that has an engine rides on fire

[–] [email protected] 20 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

Ok but the return capsule kinda rides on fire when it re-enters the atmosphere

[–] [email protected] 8 points 11 months ago

The fire is at the vehicle’s boundary for a rocket, making the rocket a vehicle that rides on fire.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Sooo steam engines ride on water?

[–] [email protected] 6 points 11 months ago

Yes, and a hang glider rides on air.

[–] [email protected] 37 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Atmosphere re-entry capsules

[–] [email protected] 4 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

And the Space Shuttle! (RIP)

[–] [email protected] 22 points 11 months ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 7 points 11 months ago (1 children)

We all know those create fire, silly.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 11 months ago

Only if you are Ray Bradbury.

[–] [email protected] 21 points 11 months ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 3 points 11 months ago

Came her to say this. Literally riding on the hot air from a big fire.

[–] [email protected] 20 points 11 months ago

We have rockets.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

So solid, liquid, gas, and missing plasma. You just need to have a really big bang and any of the other vehicles will do

[–] [email protected] 10 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (2 children)

I have a vehicle that is powered by fire, does that count?

[–] [email protected] 3 points 11 months ago

Technically you can have all the other vehicles for the remaining elements running on fire.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 11 months ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago

No, it's an old Suzuki Samurai. More of a box kite than a hot air balloon.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (1 children)

Not that I want to ride on fire.

It'd be pretty bad ass to sail a boat through liquid hot magma. Uh... assuming the boat survived, I mean. Not so bad ass to take a wooden raft.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Hot air balloon is probably your best bet for doing this

[–] [email protected] 2 points 11 months ago

I'd say this one. It catches the product of fire and rides on it

[–] [email protected] 8 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Solar sails are kind of like that

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago

We do call it solar wind, though.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 11 months ago

firetrucks?

[–] [email protected] 6 points 11 months ago (2 children)

Earth, water, air all have density. Meaning we can create a vehicle that can be lower destiny than the (Earth, water, air) our vehicle is riding in.

Fire doesn't have density. So we can't make a vehicle lighter than fire as fire has no density to begin with.

A rocket you say? Doesn't qualify. The rocket (when in the atmosphere) is providing lots of expanding gasses which creates a difference in air pressure pushing the vehicle forward. The rocket (when in the vacuum of space) is providing lots of expanding gasses at high velocities that we throw out of one side of the rocket causing the rocket to be thrown equally and oppositely the other direction. We have lots of engine in space which done have fire at all (nitrogen cold gas thrusters come to mind).

[–] [email protected] 3 points 11 months ago (1 children)

While fire itself may not have mass or density, the materials involved in the fire (fuel and oxygen) do have density.

In the context of a rocket engine, the combustion process involves the ejection of high-speed exhaust gases, which have mass and therefore contribute to the overall density of the vehicle.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 11 months ago (1 children)

We're in agreement on the physics of rocket propulsion. However, "fire" is essentially defined as a chemical oxidation reaction. The reaction itself doesn't have mass. While fuel and oxidizer undergo the oxidation reaction, it isn't the reaction itself providing the propulsion, its the mass and velocity of the combustion products.

This is why the "natural element" definition is old and out-of-date. Any discussion of "fire" as an element is a philosophical or literary exercise, not a scientific one.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 11 months ago (1 children)

I think you nailed it - fire is not analogous to earth, wind, and water (and heart), so the premise of the post is confounded.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 11 months ago

I tried to imagine a vehicle for travelling on a surface of Heart, then decided I don't want to.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago

What if the vehicle is made out of fire? 😏

[–] [email protected] 6 points 11 months ago

ICE. We carry fire with us no matter where we go.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 11 months ago

Ghost Rider enters the room.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago

Sounds like we need to gene splice minecraft striders into a reality.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 11 months ago

Fill a open trailer with wood and light it. Drive wherever. Dont drive too slow or it may catch up to you.