Final answer:
A dry chemical fire extinguisher rated 60-B can extinguish a 60 ft² flammable liquid pan fire. The rating indicates the fire size the extinguisher is capable of handling.
Step-by-step explanation:
A dry chemical fire extinguisher rated 60-B is capable of extinguishing a 60 ft² flammable liquid pan fire. The rating system for fire extinguishers, like the one you've described, corresponds to the size of fire they can extinguish. A rating of 60-B indicates that it can handle a 60 square foot fire of a flammable liquid, such as oil or gasoline.
Additional information on this topic includes how dry chemical extinguishers often contain a fluorinated solution, which can spread across the surface of burning liquids to extinguish the fire effectively. This type of solution is especially useful for large-scale fires involving organic liquids. When handling fires involving crude oil, it's important to consider the huge amount of energy each liter can release when burned, requiring significant amounts of water to absorb the energy. The critical temperature of gases, like CO₂, is another key concept. For example, a CO₂ fire extinguisher contains liquid CO₂ below its critical temperature of 31 °C, but above this temperature, no amount of pressure can liquefy the gas.