After Escaping A Near Dizaster, Idaho Power Company Explains Why You Shouldn't Leave Plastic Water Bottles In A Hot Car
By Mike-Ross
Recyclying plastic water bottles is a great way to save and protect the environment, but leaving them inside of a hot car can turn out to be a nightmare. And not knowing this information could be a threat to your life.
An Idaho man learned that an empty plastic water bottle can make a vehicle junky, but they can cause serious damage during in really hot weather. How is it possible that something as seemingly innocent as a plastic water bottle could be so dangerous?
Just like light traveling through a magnifying glass that can set things on fire when burning hot enough, plastic water bottles can do the same thing. It’s quite frightening to find your backseat or floorboard on fire all because of a seemingly innocent plastic water bottle.
Idaho Power shared such a story on Facebook from one of its employee’s scary experience. In fact, so many people were unaware of this hazard that the video has been viewed thousands of times and shared hundreds of times, too.
Battery technician Dioni Amuchastegu was sitting in the work truck taking his lunch break when he noticed smoke curling away out of the corner of his eye. He had no clue what was going on.
Dioni turned sideways in his seat and saw that light was being refracted through a water bottle. That light on a hot summer day was so intense that when refracted, it began to catch the passenger seat on fire.
“Light was just shining through the driver’s side window and shone right through (the water bottle) and burned those two spots in the seat right there.”
There are two charred holes in Dioni’s front seat, proof that this odd occurrence really did happen. Idaho Power said that a round plastic water bottle filled with a clear liquid can actually act as a lens that concentrates the sun’s energy on one point, eventually creating enough heat to ignite and spark flames.
The ideal thing to do is to remove empty plastic water bottles from your vehicle and recycle them. But if you haven’t made it to a recycling bin yet, make sure they’re kept out of direct sunlight.
Watch for yourself via Facebook Video on how a simple plastic water bottle can cause such a big problem.
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