porthole
Retired
For many many years "fire" was a "3 sided" event, e.g. the fire triangle.
Basically in order for a fire to be it must have "3 things":
fuel
oxygen
heat
Remove any one of the three and the fire is out.
Modern science has taught us that there is a "4th side" and that is the chemical /chain reaction.
So we now have the "fire tetrahedron"
Halon works as an extinguishing agent by "breaking" the chemical reaction of a fire.
Halon systems will also displace the oxygen, which makes the environment unhabitable (same with CO2 systems)
Halon came about because it is effective and non corrosive, so it is very effective for electrically sensitive areas (think computer rooms).
Halon is no longer being produced because of Ozone issues, and is banned in many countries.
In the US it is available as a "re-use", no longer made but we can still use what is stockpiled.
Many dry powders systems are corrosive.
