What is fire: Difference between revisions
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: energy (heat) and usually hot enough to be [[incandescent]] (so creates light, and potentially a good amount of it), | : energy (heat) and usually hot enough to be [[incandescent]] (so creates light, and potentially a good amount of it), | ||
: water, | : water, | ||
: and CO<sub>2</sub> and/or, if not | : and CO<sub>2</sub> and/or, if not enough oxygen is directly available, also noticeable CO and C. | ||
: and usually also other products, depending on what exactly you're burning | : and usually also other products, depending on what exactly you're burning | ||
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Because you need to get oxygen onto the fuel, accessibility matters. | Because you need to get oxygen onto the fuel, accessibility matters. | ||
For solids and liquids, fire effectively works on the surface only, | For solids and liquids, fire effectively works on the surface only, | ||
or rather | or rather the parts porous and loosening, meeting oxygen that burns. | ||
Gas is more interesting, because you can get the combination to be more efficient | Gas is more interesting, because you can get the combination to be more efficient, | ||
(A ''lot'' more efficient if you don't mind some specific tools) | (A ''lot'' more efficient if you don't mind some specific tools) | ||
For liquids, on the other hand, need some assistance to become a spray fine enough that | |||
enough oxygen from regular air makes it burn well. | |||
Some of the fancier camping stoves do basically this. And have heads for specific fuels, basically for different mixes.{{verify}} | Some of the fancier camping stoves do basically this. And have heads for specific fuels, basically for different mixes.{{verify}} | ||
But that's getting sidetracked. (As is adding a lot of oxygen - that's a dangerous thing in more way than one) | But that's getting sidetracked. (As is adding nunusual amounts of a lot of oxygen - that's a dangerous thing in more way than one, and usually we just use air's ~21%) | ||
Latest revision as of 11:37, 20 March 2024
✎ This article/section is a stub — some half-sorted notes, not necessarily checked, not necessarily correct. Feel free to ignore, or tell me about it.
A surprisingly good question.
Multiple good ones, in fact, including:
- what does it contain?
- what is is that we see?
- how much does fire vary based on what it contains?
- why can the thing we see be so big?
- Is a lot of fuel being propelled while oxidation is relatively slow?
- is there energy exciting electrons and causing sort-of-secondary light?
- Is plasma involved or not?