Final answer:
Smoke detectors are designed to sense smoke, not flame, heat, or compressed gases. They use a tiny amount of radioactive material to detect smoke, which interrupts an electric current to trigger an alarm. Carbon monoxide detectors are crucial due to the deadly nature of the gas and its undetectable nature without such a device.
Step-by-step explanation:
The statement is false: smoke detectors do not detect flame, heat, and compressed gases. Instead, smoke detectors are designed to sense the presence of smoke particles in the air. When particles of smoke enter the detector, they disrupt the flow of ions between metal plates inside the detector, which is caused by a small amount of the radioactive element americium. This interruption causes the electric current to drop below a threshold, triggering an alarm to warn of a potential fire.
It is more important to have a detector for carbon monoxide than other household gases because carbon monoxide is an odorless and colorless gas, which makes it impossible to detect without a specialized detector. This gas can lead to potentially fatal carbon monoxide poisoning, and since sources like fuel-burning appliances can leak carbon monoxide, having a detector can save lives.