What is the main element used in Wet chemical Fire extinguisher?
- A.Copper
- B.Magnesium
- C.Potassium
- D.Phosphorus
Correct answer
Explanation
The correct answer is C, Potassium. A wet chemical extinguisher sprays a fine mist of a potassium salt solution — usually potassium acetate, potassium citrate or potassium carbonate — so potassium is the working element inside it. This type is built for kitchen fires of cooking oil and fat, which are put in Class F in the Indian and European scheme and Class K in the American one. It works in two ways at once: the mist cools the burning oil below the temperature at which it catches fire, and the potassium salt reacts with the hot fat to form a soapy foam layer on the surface. That reaction, called saponification, seals the oil off from oxygen so it cannot flare up again. Option A is wrong because copper is used in wiring and alloys and has no part in extinguishers. Option B is wrong because magnesium burns fiercely itself and is a fuel in metal fires, never a suppressant. Option D is wrong because phosphorus catches fire very easily and is used in matches. Exam tip: wet chemical — potassium salt, cooking-oil fires, works by saponification.
Practice Questions
View allThe fact that the planets move around the Sun, not in circles but in ellipses, was first demonstrated by
- A.Galileo
- B.Martin Luther
- C.Johannes Kepler
- D.Copernicus
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In 1609 Kepler showed that the planets move around the Sun in elliptical orbits, with the Sun at one focus of the ellipse.
Read the full explanation →Which one of the following statements is correct?
- A.Urea is produced in liver.
- B.Urea is produced in blood.
- C.Urea is produced from digestion of starch.
- D.Urea is produced in lung and kidney.
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Liver cells turn the toxic ammonia released from the breakdown of amino acids into urea through the ornithine cycle, also called the urea cycle.
Read the full explanation →Which one of the following is the correct sequence of passage of light in a compound microscope?
- A.Condenser-Objective lens-Eyepiece-Body tube
- B.Objective lens-Condenser-Body tube-Eyepiece
- C.Condenser-Objective lens-Body tube-Eyepiece
- D.Eyepiece-Objective lens-Body tube-Mirror
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Light passes through the condenser to the specimen, is picked up by the objective lens, travels up the body tube and reaches the eye through the eyepiece.
Read the full explanation →Which one of the following statements regarding haemoglobin is correct?
- A.Haemoglobin present in RBC can carry only oxygen but not carbon dioxide.
- B.Haemoglobin of RBC can carry both oxygen and carbon dioxide.
- C.Haemoglobin of RBC can carry only carbon dioxide.
- D.Haemoglobin is only used for blood clotting and not for carrying gases.
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It binds oxygen at its iron-containing haem groups and carries some carbon dioxide on its protein chains. Each haemoglobin molecule has four polypeptide chains and four haem groups, and each haem iron can hold one oxygen molecule, forming oxyhaemoglobin in the lungs.
Read the full explanation →Which one of the following statements regarding histone proteins is correct?
- A.Histones are proteins that are present in mitochondrial membrane.
- B.Histones are proteins that are present in nucleus in association with DNA.
- C.Histones are proteins associated with lipids in the cytosol.
- D.Histones are proteins associated with carbohydrates in the cytosol.
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They are the proteins around which DNA winds to form chromatin in the nucleus of eukaryotic cells. Histones are small basic proteins, rich in the positively charged amino acids lysine and arginine, which attract the negatively charged phosphate groups of DNA.
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