Question

Intuitive question: What is fire? What's actually happening?

Answer 1

are you just curious? I'll try to explain it

Answer 2

would you like a scientific explanation is what I mean?

Answer 3

Yeup, curiosity!

I've been exposed to general concepts like enthalpy, entropy, elecrtonegativity etc. Gen chem material.

Answer 4

And yes! Please, as scientific as possible!

Answer 5

hmm ok

Answer 6

Fire is unlike all other elements the world has no matter unlike Earth, water, and air. Fire is a visible, tangible side effect of matter changing form -- it's one part of a chemical reaction.

Answer 7

i got more coming

Answer 8

Typically, fire comes from a chemical reaction between oxygen in the atmosphere and some sort of fuel (wood or gasoline, for example). Of course, wood and gasoline don't spontaneously catch on fire just because they're surrounded by oxygen. For the combustion reaction to happen, you have to heat the fuel to its ignition temperature.

Answer 9

http://static.ddmcdn.com/gif/fire-reaction-1.gif

Answer 10

http://static.ddmcdn.com/gif/fire-reaction-2.gif

Answer 11

The flash point!

Answer 12

would you like to know how it works for each type of fuel/reactant

Answer 13

ahhh ok sorry

Answer 14

No no no no, I was just excited to recognize a tad of what you were saying!

And, that won't be necessary for now--- perhaps, what an intuitive answer, for how it works for each type of fuel , i mean.

What are the determining factors?

Answer 15

then i have other things to give to you haha

Answer 16

Here's the sequence of events in a typical wood fire:
Something heats the wood to a very high temperature. The heat can come from lots of different things -- a match, focused light, friction, lightning, something else that is already burning...
When the wood reaches about 300 degrees Fahrenheit (150 degrees Celsius), the heat decomposes some of the cellulose material that makes up the wood.
Some of the decomposed material is released as volatile gases. We know these gases as smoke. Smoke is compounds of hydrogen, carbon and oxygen. The rest of the material forms char, which is nearly pure carbon, and ash, which is all of the unburnable minerals in the wood (calcium, potassium, and so on). The char is what you buy when you buy charcoal. Charcoal is wood that has been heated to remove nearly all of the volatile gases and leave behind the carbon. That is why a charcoal fire burns with no smoke.

Answer 17

the burning of wood happens in two separate reactions

1. When the volatile gases are hot enough (about 500 degrees F (260 degrees C) for wood), the compound molecules break apart, and the atoms recombine with the oxygen to form water, carbon dioxide and other products. In other words, they burn.

2. The carbon in the char combines with oxygen as well, and this is a much slower reaction. That is why charcoal in a BBQ can stay hot for a long time.

Answer 18

i don't know if this is what your looking for?

Answer 19

My, I love you for your brains.

I got what I was looking for! Anything else I'll gladly take-- but thank you amillion, sensé

Answer 20

haha thats so lovely!! i have some other random info that could help you i'll just add it in :)

Answer 21

Please!

Answer 22

*QUITE LONG SORRY* I found this and it has good info you dont have to read it**


The fuel gas is created by heat. In other words, with heat providing the necessary energy, atoms in one gaseous compound break their bonds with each other and recombine with available oxygen atoms in the air to form new compounds plus lots more heat.
Only some compounds will readily break apart and recombine in this way -- the various atoms have to be attracted to each other in the right manner. For example, when you boil water, it takes the gaseous form of steam, but this gas doesn't react with oxygen in the air. There isn't a strong enough attraction between the two hydrogen atoms and one oxygen atom in a water molecule and the two oxygen atoms in an oxygen molecule, so the water compound doesn't break apart and recombine.
The most flammable compounds contain carbon and hydrogen, which recombine with oxygen relatively easily to form carbon dioxide, water and other gases.
Different flammable fuels catch fire at different temperatures. It takes a certain amount of heat energy to change any particular material into a gas, and even more heat energy to trigger the reaction with oxygen. The necessary heat level varies depending on the nature of the molecules that make up the fuel. A fuel's piloted ignition temperature is the heat level required to form a gas that will ignite when exposed to a spark. At the unpiloted ignition temperature, which is much higher, the fuel ignites without a spark.
The fuel's size also affects how easily it will catch fire. A larger fuel, such as a thick tree, can absorb a lot of heat, so it takes a lot more energy to raise any particular piece to the ignition temperature. A toothpick catches fire more easily because it heats up very quickly.
A fuel's heat production depends on how much energy the gases release in the combustion reaction and how quickly the fuel burns. Both factors largely depend on the fuel's composition. Some compounds react with oxygen in such a way that there is a lot of "extra heat energy" left over. Others emit a smaller amount of energy. Similarly, the fuel's reaction with oxygen may happen very quickly, or it may happen more slowly.
The fuel's shape also affects burning speed. Thin pieces of fuel burn more quickly than larger pieces because a larger proportion of their mass is exposed to oxygen at any moment. For example, you could burn up a pile of wood splinters or paper much more quickly than you could a block of wood with the same mass, because splinters and paper have a much greater surface area.
In this way, fires from different fuels are like different species of animal -- they all behave a little differently. Experts can often figure out how a fire started by observing how it affected the surrounding areas. A fire from a fast-burning fuel that produces a lot of heat will inflict a different sort of damage than a slow-burning, low-heat fire.

Answer 23

I copied and pasted it, and I assure you, I'll dissect it--

Thanks again!!!!! :)

Answer 24

haha yay :)

Answer 25

I don't have weird fire fetishes just saying :P but good luck on whatever you're working on bye bye

Answer 26

haha, thanks!
evening!

Answer 27

In my opinion, from what I know, fire is just a special form of matter change. Fire is akin to electricity in the fact that it isn't a set form of state change. The closest thing I could relate fire to would probably be a plasma.

Answer 28

short and sweet: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1pfqIcSydgE