Fire…
Whether we know it or not we all need fire.
It can be it friend and foe.
But we have learned to use it to our best advantage since the stone age.
So what is the fire that drives civilization?
Let’s look into this a little bit deeper then.
Let’s say it’s almost winter and there’s already lots of snow on the ground.
One of the things we like to do when it’s cold and snowy outside, sitting around the fireplace, we can drink hot chocolate tell stories and sometimes we even roast marshmallows
It’s so nice and warm.
What is the Fire Heat and Why Fire is So Hot
Now that’s a really good question…
And I sometimes think that many people just take it for granted, but there has to be something to give off all that heat right?
Fire is very hot which is one of the reasons we don’t go near it and that heat comes from energy.
You might already know a little bit about energy, it’s the reason things move and change.
Energy…
It is what motivates all living things, energy, we all get the energy we know from the food we eat and we use that energy to move and change when we do things like playing and growing.
The energy we use when we move is one type of energy and heat is another type of energy.
That’s why we get so warm sometimes when we’re running around a lot as we run we use up some of the energy we got from our food and we get warmer at the same time.
Fire is kind of like that too…
When something burns like wood in a fireplace it changes it starts out looking like regular wood from a tree and then after it burns it becomes all black.
Sometimes it also gets broken up into smaller pieces that we call charcoal.
As the wood changes it uses up energy and at the same time, it gives off heat.
Now the heat that comes from a fire happens because of something called combustion.
You see when something is burning for something to burn or combust.
Three Things Need to Happen:
First – there has to be something to burn like the wood in the fireplace we call the stuff that burns in a fire fuel.
Second – there needs to be something called oxygen which is a part of the air that’s all around us.
Fire isn’t the only thing that needs oxygen…
We need it too we take oxygen into our bodies every time we take a breath of air.
Third – that fire needs is actually heat, fire needs a little bit of heat to get started.
if you have ever watched someone light a candle on a birthday cake or start a campfire.
They might have used a match.
It is the heat from the match that gets combustion and the fire started then the fuel burns and changes.
And this in turn gives off much much more heat than it started with from that tiny match it’s using up lots of energy as it burns.
And some of that energy comes out as heat.
But when the fuel in a fire is all burned up there’s nothing left to change and give off that heat so if all the wood burns up in our fireplace the fire will go out.
But while it’s burning it’s very hot and now you know why it’s because it’s giving off energy.
It really is amazing when you think of it.
Why is Fire Hot?
- fire is always hot, regardless of what fuel that is burnt at the time.
- although combustion requires activation energy or you could say (ignition), the net heat released exceeds the energy required
- breaking that chemical bond between oxygen molecules absorbs energy, but forming the chemical bonds for the products (carbon dioxide and water) releases much more energy
What is the Hottest Part of a Flame
Well…
The hottest part of a flame is the actual point of maximum combustion.
Which, you could say is the blue portion of a flame, but the flame needs to get that hot to do so first.
And because heat rises, so the top of the flame’s cone is a good collection point for all that energy.
What Is The Fire Heat
There is another way for you to gauge the region of most heat in a flame and that is to look for the brightest portion of a flame.
What is the fire heat that keeps us warm at night, heat has to come from somewhere, it might be from a fireplace, the campfire, or the sun.
We all need heat to stay alive and if nothing else, we owe our existence to it.