Can fire burn through ice?

Question

Scenario: a frozen lake in, say, Northern Onario. You gather wood etc. and light a "bonfire." Would the heat of the fire burn through the ice? Would the ashes of the fire create a barrier between the ice and the heat?
We are having a discussion about this and, apart from actually trying this out, wonder if anyone knows?

Answer 1

we used to build our fires on top of other wood so that it would not melt down into the ice and snow and go out.
I dont think you could actually burn through the ice because the water on top of the ice would stop you. Don't forget that under the Ice is a lot of freezing cold water that will help keep the ice cold. But I imagine if I built a big enough fire to heat up the lake it would melt through.

Answer 2

The question is worded somewhat poorly - ice really doesn't "burn". I think what you are asking is if a fire lit on top of a frozen lake will melt through to the water below. The answer is yes - but rarely. As stated before convection brings the heat up away from the ice - but there would be a significant amount of radiated heat still hitting the ice directly below the fire, so eventually it would melt. How long it would take to melt through the ice would depend on a few important factors -
How cold is the ice to begin with? -- The colder the ice is to start with, the more heat energy it will take to melt the ice.

How thick is the ice? -- Thicker ice will absorb more heat energy than thin ice because there are more molecules to spread the heat energy between. So it will take more than twice as long to melt ice that is 100 cm thick than ice that is 50 cm thick.

How hot is the fire? -- This could be looked at as - how much heat energy is hitting the ice? Obviously a hotter fire will melt the ice much faster.

How much area does the fire cover? -- A relatively cool fire that takes up a large surface area will release more energy than a very hot fire that takes up a small area.

Answer 3

actually depending on cold it is would be a great factor. In Alaska, ice fishermen light fires in barrels to have a some heat when they are fishing. You have to assume how hot the fire gets and how fast the ice will melt. When heat is introduced to ice of course its going to melt but the question is how fast. The hotter the flame of the fire the faster it will melt. Other wise it will take time for the fire to melt through.

Answer 4

If you mean lighting a fire over a sheet of ice, then the ice would just melt into water, putting the bonfire out.

Answer 5

If the ice is of considerable thickness then you won't burn through it because most of the heat from the fire goes up from convection. The ice directly beneath it won't melt very much at all.

Answer 6

in case you continuously feed the fireplace for twenty-four hours in the present day and the fireplace is promptly on the ice specific its definetly conceivable. Camp fires can attain as much as 950-1000 degree F. generally lake ice melts from the backside up by using fact photograph voltaic shines threw the ice and warms the water. undergo in strategies warmth rises so the fireplace wont soften as lots if it have been under the ice. yet whilst the warmth is a delicate a million,000 stages for twenty-four hours in the present day specific yet i think of possibly the melted water might positioned out the fireplace until eventually now it could bypass all the way down. as quickly as the ice is going right down to 4 inches the ice will seem black then you comprehend your in difficulty.

Answer 7

No. Ice is the solid form of di-hydrous oxygen, which is fully reduced (burned). The only way to "burn" ice is to react it with something more electronegative than oxygen, and the only element that qualifies is fluorine.

Answer 8

I BELIEVE THAT IT WONT BURN THROUGH THE ICE, BECAUSE THE ICE WILL MELT DO TO THE HEAT.... BUT THAT'S A GOOD ? IF YOU DO TRY LET ME KNOW THE ANSWER....