My roommates always make fun of me for being excessively cautious around fire sprinklers. Our common room features Christmas lights strung precariously around ceiling pipes, and I have had nightmares about a stray light accidentally activating the entire system. As it turns out, the activation of a single sprinkler does not automatically trigger all of the other sprinklers in the system. Each sprinkler contains a bulb filled with liquid. Rising temperatures cause the liquid to expand, eventually breaking the glass in the case of a fire and initiating the water flow. My paranoia has been slightly assuaged through learning more about the history behind this object, but I’ll probably still wince every time one of my roommates gets too close to one.
