How does combustion occur

Putting out the fire — investigate ways of extinguishing fire, using knowledge of the fire triangle and fire chemistry. Exploding flour — observing combustion. Add to collection. Related content Explore some more of the big science ideas and concepts related to fire: What is smoke? Heat energy looks at heat transfer — convection, conduction and radiation. Fire behaviour explores the variables that influence fire. Activity ideas Drama in the microworld — using drama to model atoms, molecules, heat transfer and combustion.

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Yes No. Because of the high temperatures, exhaust usually occurs as a gas, but there can be liquid or solid exhaust products as well. Soot , for example, is a form of solid exhaust that occurs in some combustion processes.

During the combustion process, as the fuel and oxidizer are turned into exhaust products, heat is generated. Interestingly, some source of heat is also necessary to start combustion. Gasoline and air are both present in your automobile fuel tank; but combustion does not occur because there is no source of heat. Since heat is both required to start combustion and is itself a product of combustion, we can see why combustion takes place very rapidly. Also, once combustion gets started, we don't have to provide the heat source because the heat of combustion will keep things going.

We don't have to keep lighting a campfire, it just keep burning. To summarize, for combustion to occur three things must be present: a fuel to be burned, a source of oxygen, and a source of heat. In order for a fire to take place there are 3 main ingredients that must be present: Oxygen, Heat and Fuel. In chemistry we call the type of reaction that produces fire a combustion reaction. Combustion is a high-temperature exothermic heat releasing redox oxygen adding chemical reaction between a fuel and an oxidant, usually atmospheric oxygen, that produces oxidized, often gaseous products, in a mixture termed as smoke.

Whenever we complete a combustion reaction a hydrocarbon compound of C and H there are generally the same products formed: CO 2 and H 2 O. The fuel you burn in your car's engine contains octane, C 8 H When octane is burned, the products are CO 2 and H 2 O.

The key ingredient to the process is the availability of oxygen.