A 16-year-old Mexican student develops a sound-wave fire extinguisher

A portable device developed by 16-year-old high school student Ángela Karime Hernández Venegas in Mexico’s Tamaulipas state extinguished fires with sound waves without using water or chemicals, winning a gold medal at an international science fair in Indonesia.

Ángela Karime Hernández Venegas, a 16-year-old student at CETis 78 school in Altamira, in Mexico’s Tamaulipas state, developed a portable device that extinguishes fires with sound waves without using water or chemicals.

The project, called “Vortex Tech,” produces low-frequency sound waves at approximately 30 hertz. The device consists of a 12-volt battery, a frequency generator, an amplifier and a speaker. It moves the air around the flame with sound waves, driving away the oxygen that sustains combustion.

The project won a gold medal in the secondary education technology category at the ISIF 2026 science and invention fair in Indonesia, where approximately 110 projects from 25 countries competed. Hernández Venegas also received the IYSA Semi Grand Award, earning the right to participate in the I2ASPO 2026 competition, which will be held online.

Arturo Hernández Muñoz served as the student’s project adviser.