if solid liquid and air are the 3 only elements you can find, what about fire ?

Answer 1

Ahem mm- cough cough. Some people here need a lesson in physics. Fire can only take place when the things being burned have turned to their gaseous state.

If you took a log and threw in onto a fire , why wouldn't it just burst into flames? It's because the fire has to heat the wood until it started to give off gases that mix with the air and then can burn.

Same with all things burning, they have to be in a gaseous state before they will burn. A good example of this and please don't try it at home is the match and gasoline trick. You can put out a lit match in a jar of gasoline by just throwing it in there. To make it work the jar has to absolutley full of gasoline and there should be a slight breeze. No gasoline fumes will be able to gather as it can't settle in the jar as it is full and any coming off the top will be blown away by the breeze. Just throw a lit match it there and it will fizzle out - proof that only gases can burn.

Fire is not a element just a reaction of gases.

Answer 2

your question is a little misleading...solid, liquid, and GAS are the three BASIC elements, but you also have plasma, which is considered the 4th. Fire is a phenomenon of a solid, liquid, gas or plasma, or any combination of the four being chemically altered or changed, while at the same time, releasing particles. Fire is broken down into 3 components, all which HAVE to be present to maintain a fire : fuel (paper), heat (a struck match), and oxygen (an open pit when camping). Take away any one of those elements, and your fire goes out.

Answer 3

Solid, Liquid, Air, (and Plasma) are not elements. They are states of matter. Fire is an interesting combination in that it is a very hot gas, so hot that it gives off light.


Of course some cultures consider Water, Air, Earth, and Fire to be the "Elemental Forces" or "Elements of the Universe", that explanation lies outside the bounds of science, and therefor outside the bounds of this board.


Tiger Striped Dog MD

Answer 4

What are you on about? Solid, liquid, gas, and plasma are the four states elements can exist under normal circumstances. They are not the elements, nor will they ever be.

Note: Fire is when gases combust, or react with oxygen at high temperatures, or when there is an immense amount of energy "infused" with the gas atoms.

Answer 5

I think you mean phases of matter.

There are a couple of other obscure phases that we won't bother with here.

Fire is gas and solid. A typical fire is hot air coming off of a chemical reaction. The light you see comes from glowing solid particles that are breaking away from the surface and floating up. They can continue to combust and eventually become gas as the go up, or they can remain a solid and float away as particulates into the air.

Answer 6

solid, liquid and air are NOT elements.

Answer 7

Fire is just visible heat and there is a fourth phase of matter, plasma. But fire is just heat that we can see.

Answer 8

Fire is a liquid!

Answer 9

there is a newly discovered element and that are elements which belongs to the category of plasma.

Answer 10

solid liquid and gass are forms of mater , your slightly confused