What is fire?

Question

I mean, I've been thinking about this for a while. Fire isn't a liquid, gas, solid, or plasma......what is fire? Should a new state of matter be addedd to explain it?

So you're saying that fire is a process in which energybcomes from. But can't oxidation occur with no visual representation? It also isn't energy since energy( heat), can't come from energy(fire)? WHAT IS FIRE?

So actual 'fire' is basically the glow created by the oxidation of whatever object is burning, just as in the glowing steel example. And of course the heat and light are the forms of energy that spawn from the process. OK thanx everybody I understand now.

Answer 1

I think that fire is only what you experience as fire, and not the fire itself. What I mean is that fire is experienced as a combination of several different material things. For example, the shape of the fire is given by the gases that are burning. The heat is just energy, so it should not be a state of "matter". So is the light.

Answer 2

Any hot gas gives off radiation. Check blackbody radation link. If the temperature is high enough, it gives off visible light. So, fire is mostly hot gases, but tends to contain solid particulates as well. It's not hot enough to be plasma, and it's not a liquid either, nor a 5th state of matter.

As an analogy, if a bar of steel is heated hot enough, it will glow. The same idea works for gases.

Addendum: For those believing that fire is a plasma, check the second link, "Q97: Is Fire a Plasma?" Ans: no.

Answer 3

Fire is a chemical reaction. Actually, it consists of a lot of chemical
reactions going on at the same time, in which the molecules of some fuel
(wax, wood, paper, oil, whatever) are broken down into smaller fragments by
heat, and then the small fragments combine with oxygen to make water, carbon
dioxide, ash, and "partial oxidation products" (when the fuel molecules
aren't broken down into the smallest pieces possible). These reactions
release heat, which is why fire is hot and makes light.

Answer 4

Fire is like a myth!
Depending on the level of the person the fire gets meaning!
Fire is the generation of thinking, a philosopher would tell you!
Fire is the necessary ingredient for life, another will tell us!
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"Fire", the way you ask, is the envelope within which there are transitions and chemical reactions; the colors are due to the temperature created from the exothermic reactions!

Answer 5

As far as I have ever known, fire is a plasma. A plasma is a highly unstable form of matter, closely associated with high friction (heat). Is there a better way to sum up fire?

Answer 6

Fire and heat is Gods way of teaching children to obay thier mothers.

Seriously, I think fire is a process as opossed to a state of matter, and that is why it should not be qualified as a state of matter.

Answer 7

Fire is rapid oxidization, or a chemical process.

Answer 8

It is energy. Different kinds of energy combined together. It is infrared(heat) and light energy combined.

Answer 9

fire is a mineral that is found in south africa and costs 30 dollars a pound. birds eat it . It is used to fertilize azaleas. dinosaurs frolic in it. You can makt fire wigwams with it. Beethoven is dead.

Answer 10

good question I have no idea.

maybe it's a reaction, and it's not technically matter becuase you can destroy it, so in summary...idk