Question

Explain what is fire.

Answer 1

Fire:

1. Fire is the result of a natural reaction between oxygen and fuels like wood, gasoline, etc.
2. Fire is a combustion reaction and spontaneous exothermic process.
3. The fire flames mainly contain Oxygen(${\mathrm{O}}_2$), Carbon dioxide(${\mathrm{CO}}_2$), Nitrogen(${\mathrm{N}}_2$), and Water Vapours(${\mathrm{H}}_2\mathrm{O}$).
4. Fire degrades fossil fuels into ash.
5. Mainly hydrocarbons are burned in the fire, and their combustion(burning) reaction can be represented as;

$\mathrm{Hydrocarbons}+\underset{\mathrm{Oxygen}}{{\mathrm{O}}_2\left(\mathrm{g}\right)}\to \underset{\mathrm{Carbon}\mathrm{dioxide}}{{\mathrm{CO}}_2\left(\mathrm{g}\right)}+\underset{\mathrm{Water}\mathrm{vapours}}{{\mathrm{H}}_2\mathrm{O}\left(\mathrm{g}\right)}$

Requirements for fire:

1. Continuous oxygen supply for burning.
2. Heat maintenance for continuous burning.
3. Continuous supply of fuel.

Therefore, fire is a natural phenomenon that occurs between oxygen and fuels.