PULSE Magazine | June/July 2019 Issue

WARNING! Do Not Keep Water Bottles Inside Cars on Hot Days

While It’s so important to drink plenty of water throughout your day to stay healthy and hydrated, so grabbing a water bottle on your way out the door is a smart move. However, there’s one thing you should never do when you’re taking bottled water out with you: NEVER LEAVE IT IN THE CAR

A recent story about a local man who experienced this danger firsthand.

Dioni Amuchastegui, a power station’s battery technician, explains how he discovered first-hand how an innocent plastic bottle of water can instantly create a dangerous situation. He said he was eating lunch when he started to “notice some smoke out of the corner of my eye.” He looked over and noticed that light was being refracted through a water bottle and “was starting to catch the seat on fire.” A water bottle can carry the heat from the sun’s rays. The sunlight will penetrate through when it’s filled with liquid, and act as a magnifying glass as you would with regular optics. The rays use the liquid and the clear material to develop a focused beam which can cause a fire. Sunlight magnified through a bottle of water can reach 250 degrees. The intensified heat can then focus on other interior materials of the car, including the fabrics, seats or mats—potentially setting those materials on fire. Obviously, the ideal thing to do is to keep plastic water bottles out of your car. However, if you still want to keep one in the vehicle make sure that they’re kept out of direct sunlight. Not only can water bottles cause a fire hazard when left in your car, but they can also become unsafe to drink. Research studies conducted in the past few years have shown that when plastic bottles are left in a hot enough environment for long periods of time harmful chemicals may be released into the water. It takes some serious heat and at least a week or so to make this water dangerous to drink. It’s an important precaution to take, so the next time you find an old water bottle in your vehicle consider watering your plants with it instead of drinking it.

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