• Question: How would you explain what fire is?

    Asked by crouchingmurloc to Ben, Dave, Ed, Sam, Susana on 18 Jun 2013.
    • Photo: David Briggs

      David Briggs answered on 18 Jun 2013:

      Fire is the process of burning/oxidation of a substance, which gives out lots of energy as heat and light – flame is the visible part of the process.

    • Photo: Sam Horrell

      Sam Horrell answered on 19 Jun 2013:

      Essentially it’s just a chemical reaction, the fire is the heat energy being given off.

    • Photo: Susana Teixeira

      Susana Teixeira answered on 19 Jun 2013:

      A fire is a reaction that needs 3 things: a fuel, an oxidising agent and heat. The fuel (paper for example) is what gets oxidised, very often by oxygen. Heat is what gets the reaction started by activating the fuel (heat from a match for example). Heat is also what gets released during the reaction so even without the starting match it will keep going.

      If you want to stop a fire all you need to do is remove one of the 3 components (sounds easier than it sometimes is!).

Comments