SHORT STORY

That Time I Set the Fridge on Fire

A “scientific” experiment gone wonderfully wrong

The introduction

Fire is hot.

The freezer is cold.

So, if you put a teeny tiny flame in a large super-cold freezer, what do you think will happen?

It will obviously die out in an instant, right?

That was the mindset of an eager young scientist named Kasun Ranasinghe at the inquisitive age of ten.

The background

I was interested in science from a very young age. I remember sitting in front of the TV consuming hours of content from the Discovery channel and diving into countless books. My cupboards were overflowing with encyclopedias — a treasure trove of physics principles, and chemical conundrums. I loved to learn and experiment. And out of all the fields of study, combustion was my favorite.

The theory

One day, as I was poring through the pages of my latest science book, I came across something that piqued my interest. The section was titled, the scientific method. It was about how scientists come up with new and inventive things through doing experiments and testing out various theories.

According to the book, it was vital to verify every theory.

Verifying a theory, eh?

Click, a light bulb sparked to life in my head. I could do an experiment about combustion.

So I rushed through my stack of books to find an interesting phenomenon. And that’s when I came across Newton’s law of cooling.

The rate of heat loss of a body is directly proportional to the difference in the temperatures between the body and its surroundings.

In simpler terms, a hot object cools faster when it’s in a cold place. Time to come up with an experiment and verify this theory!

The experiment

First and foremost I needed a hot object. Well, what’s hotter than fire itself?

But what was a good source?

I came up with two possible options. The first was lighting a rolled-up newspaper with the stove. The other option was using a match stick.

The first option would be very risky. If the fire spread on the paper too quickly, I could hurt myself. The match stick on the other hand was a smaller flame and could be controlled easily. I always considered safety first.

The next thing I needed was a cold environment. Well, I had the perfect equipment at home, the fridge.

The last thing I was going to need was a stopwatch. I had to measure the time difference to conduct my calculations.

I had the means, I had the motive, all I needed was the opportunity to conduct my crime — I mean experiment. And as luck would have it, three days after I hatched the plan in my head, my parents had to attend a wedding, and I was left to guard the house.

Home alone with all the time in the world, what else could a young aspiring scientist ask for? I pulled on my pretend lab coat and got down to work.

It took me half an hour of extensive preparation to gather the materials needed. I found a matchbox hidden away under mom's clothing cupboard and a stopwatch inside my dad’s man cave. I made my way to the fridge and made sure to take out all the chicken and ice-cream inside the freezer to allow ample room for heat distribution. I took one last safety check before starting the experiment.

Safety check: Throw match stick in the open freezer to see if it explodes

Method: Start the stopwatch, light the match stick, and record the time. Throw the match stick into the freezer and record observation.

Observation: The freezer did not blow up.

Discussion: The air inside the freezer was not flammable and it was safe to put the match stick inside.

Conclusion: It was safe to place the match stick inside the freezer.

Attempt 1: Placing the lit match stick in the freezer and closing the door

Method: Start the stopwatch, light the match stick, and record the time. Place the match stick inside the freezer and close the door. Open the door after 20 seconds and record observations.

Observation: Oh my god!

The disaster

The plastic top of the freezer was charred and was starting to catch on fire.

I had to do something and put it out before it got worse. I took in a deep breath and blew. People blow out candles, so the same principle should apply here.

Well, guess what, chemistry and physics didn’t agree with me. The flame jumped and spread across the freezer top in a rush. I jumped back and stared in horror as it started to grow larger and angrier. What do I do? What do I do? Smother the fire!

I grabbed the frozen chicken on the table and smashed it on top of the fire furiously fighting the inferno in front of me. Thunk, thunk, thunk. The frozen chicken hit the flames but it had no effect. The flames had already eaten away the plastic bottom and were blazing through the insulation underneath.

I threw the chicken over my shoulder and panicked. My hands and legs were shaking violently as terror started to wash over me. What can I do? I racked my brain trying to think of a solution but I was blank, empty — there wasn’t a single thought in my head. And suddenly I remembered the ice cream!

I grabbed the tub and tore open the lid. Inside was french vanilla ice cream — one of the fancy expensive brands. But sacrifices had to be made. I didn’t have time to look for a spoon or fork so I plunged my hand into the tub and scooped up a hand full. The frigid cold stung my skin and I gritted my teeth as pain surged up my arm. It was now or never. Plop!

I slammed the icecream onto the fire, spreading it all over the plastic. There was a loud hiss and the flames died down. I moved my hand like a madman slathering the icecream all over the flames — killing the smallest embers. I took another scoop and did it again just to be safe. Phew.

I sank to my knees, breathless, and the tub of icecream fell beside me — splattering what little remained over the tile floor. I was shaking and my heart was pounding like a drum. I had survived the fire but I was going to face something much, much worse. My parents.

Over the next hour, I cleaned up what I could and placed everything back in the freezer. I carefully covered up the gaping hole with the chicken and ice cream and hoped beyond hope that no one would notice. I ran to my room and crawled under my bed counting down the seconds until my parents returned. If they found out, I was surely going to be murdered and incinerated. Cruel irony. And sure enough, after two hours of wallowing in my own dread, I heard my father’s voice.

“Kasun! Get your butt down here this instant!”

The discussion

I crawled out of my hiding place and walked down the stairs as anxiety tightened its noose around my neck. I was a dead boy walking. I reached downstairs and saw my father standing in front of the fridge. His arms were crossed, his eyes were crossed, and I was pretty sure he was double-crossed with me. He looked at the fridge, then at me, turned to the fridge again and back to me. Oh, the torture.

In the famous words of the comedian Russell Peters.

Somebody gonna get a hurt real bad.

I watched my dad lift his hand high and bring it down on my head — as gentle as a feather.

“Are you hurt?”

“No,” I said through quivering lips.

“Good. Now, can you explain this?”

Being the scientist I was, I explained my theories, methodologies, and observations in the most professional manner possible. But the teary eyes and a snot dribbling nose proved otherwise. After my explanation, I wiped off the mess of disgusting liquids from my face and looked up at my dad. He shook his head, smiled, and got down on one knee so we were eye to eye.

“Let’s talk about the basics of fire.”

The basics

This is a fire triangle. There are three parts, oxygen, fuel, and heat. Let's take them one by one.

Heat

The freezer is very cold but as the match burned, it heated up the plastic around it. The heat then caused the plastic to catch fire. The cold air in the freezer couldn’t cool it down fast enough so the fire spread. And then there was no stopping the increasing heat.

Fuel

Well, first you had the match stick, then the plastic, and finally the insulation. The fire had more than enough fuel to burn.

Oxygen

The freezer is filled with air, and air has oxygen. When you tried to blow it out, all you did was introduce more oxygen helping the fire burn faster.

Putting out a fire is not only about temperature difference. You have to remove the heat faster than it’s gained.

That’s where the ice cream came in. It removed the heat faster than the cold air. It also smothered the flames reducing the available oxygen. That’s what stopped the fire in the end.

You should have considered that before trying to prove Newton’s law.

The conclusion

“So Kasun, before you try any of your future experiments, make sure you know your basics.”

“I will dad. Thanks.”

“And you are grounded for a month with no dessert!”

“Daaaaaad!”

This is a small story from my childhood I wanted to share. I hope you had a giggle.

If you want to read a more emotional piece I’ve written, check out the story below.

Thank you for reading and have a great day!