Fire is one of the most useful and destructive forces on earth.
Some people ask, is fire an element?
Let’s look into this and understand more about it.
Is Fire An Element
What is the element of fire?
If you have not heard of the fire triangle before, it would be beneficial to know what your friend or foe is actually made of.
It is actually made up of three things and they are referred to as the ‘fire triangle‘.
They are:
- Oxygen
- heat
- fuel
So why do people call fire an element then?
Fire is actually associated with the suit of rods/wands…
Interesting…
And as such, it represents a sense of passion from inspiration.
So yes it is an element.
As an element, fire has a mixed symbolism because it represents energy, now this energy as I have spoken about previously can be our friend when controlled.
But if left unchecked, it can get out of control like a wild beast and is volatile and dangerous to anything in its path
What is the Element of Fire?
As we now know the elements of fire are Oxygen, heat, and fuel.
If you add in the fourth element…
Yes, there is a fourth.
This is referred to as the chemical reaction, and you actually have a fire “tetrahedron.”
So you might not have heard of this before, the fire tetrahedron. And you would not be alone in this.
The Fire Tetrahedron is also referred to as a pyramid.
So for many years the concept of fire has been symbolised by the Triangle of Combustion and is represented by fuel, heat, and oxygen.
And with further research into the fire, it has been determined that there is a fourth element.
And that element is a chemical chain reaction.
this fourth element is a necessary component of fire itself.
Let me explain…
The fire triangle was actually changed to a fire tetrahedron in order to add this found the fourth element.
The tetrahedron as it is now referred to or described as a pyramid is a solid having four plane faces.
Essentially all of these now four elements must be present for fire to even come into existence, fuel, heat, oxygen, and a chemical chain reaction are needed to get it started.
And with this newfound discovery, they now know that any removal of any one of these essential elements will result in the fire being extinguished. If at all even coming into being.
Are we keeping up here?
Needing these four elements is the need for oxygen to sustain combustion, which is sufficient enough heat to raise the material to its ignition temperature.
There is a saying…
‘without heat, there can be no fire’
And for good reason…
Fuel to feed a fire or you could say combustible material will result in an exothermic chemical chain reaction in the material itself.
Each of the four sides of the fire tetrahedron symbolises the:
- fuel
- heat
- oxygen
- and Chemical Chain Reaction
The important thing to remember here is if take any of these four things away, you will not have a fire, or if the fire is going and loses any of these, it will be extinguished.
Let’s go further and answer some more questions.
Is Fire Plasma Yes or No?
Plasma!
You say Plasma…
Fire with all its veracity does not fall into a solid state.
The reason is, that because it does not have a fixed shape, it is not static. It not only moves around by the heat that it generates but it is also moved by such things as wind.
Wind can guide fire in a different direction if strong enough.
So, fire is currently considered plasma.
This was after countless years of people who studied fire, have now considered fire to be its own element.
Is Fire an Element of Earth?
There are four elements in Western culture, these are:
- earth
- air
- fire
- water
These four elements were believed to be essential to life on Earth.
When you think about it…
We need all of these to either keep living things alive or purify the earth and help things grow.
I bet you did not know that fire could be so interesting…
I think that we live our lives around what we are doing instead of having an inquiring mind about the outstretched wider world and universe.
It would do us well in fact…
You have already started by reading this to expand your knowledge of things that are not the everyday norm to us.
This way such questions as Is Fire An Element? if ever asked, you will have more of an idea than most people out there.