March 28, 2024, 10:37:35 AM
Forum Rules: Read This Before Posting


Topic: O2 - Is this what a fire needs to burn?  (Read 25241 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

crack3rjack

  • Guest
O2 - Is this what a fire needs to burn?
« on: April 21, 2004, 01:36:52 PM »
If you introduce a small to fair amount of CO2 to a fire, mixed with O2, how much will it prevent the fire from burning? Also, is it the O2 that a fire needs to burn? or is it just air in general?

Corvettaholic

  • Guest
Re:O2 - Is this what a fire needs to burn?
« Reply #1 on: April 21, 2004, 03:37:32 PM »
I don't know a terrible amount of the actual chemistry of combustion, but you DO need the O2. C02 doesn't help a fire, its a byproduct of fire.

Offline gregpawin

  • Cradle Bandit
  • Chemist
  • Full Member
  • *
  • Posts: 245
  • Mole Snacks: +22/-5
  • Gender: Male
  • Ebichu chu chu chuses you!
Re:O2 - Is this what a fire needs to burn?
« Reply #2 on: April 21, 2004, 03:55:40 PM »
Yes here's the composition of air:

78 percent nitrogen, 21 percent oxygen, 0.9 percent argon, 0.03 percent carbon dioxide

So, most of the air is nitrogen, which does not participate in combustion.  So generally, the equation for combustion is:

Organic material (C,H,O atoms) or fossil fuels (C,H atoms) + O2 => H2O + CO2

And yes, combustion produces water, which is how mufflers can develop rust and why they're seen to drip out water on cold days.
I've got nothin'

Offline jdurg

  • Banninator
  • Retired Staff
  • Sr. Member
  • *
  • Posts: 1366
  • Mole Snacks: +106/-23
  • Gender: Male
  • I am NOT a freak.
Re:O2 - Is this what a fire needs to burn?
« Reply #3 on: April 21, 2004, 04:24:47 PM »
Not all combustions involves oxygen.  Lithium, for example, will burn in an atmosphere of pure nitrogen.  Magnesium will burn in the presence of carbon dioxide.  Just about everything will burn in the presence of fluorine.  So whether or not something burns really depends on the chemical composition of the substance, and whether or not there is an oxidizer present.  (Because it's the oxygen atoms that allow things to burn.  It's the presence of an oxidizer which is able to take electrons, so to speak, away from a fuel.)
"A real fart is beefy, has a density greater than or equal to the air surrounding it, consists

Corvettaholic

  • Guest
Re:O2 - Is this what a fire needs to burn?
« Reply #4 on: April 21, 2004, 07:43:39 PM »
When I think oxidizer, I automatically think oxygen. But an oxidizer can be anything that takes away electrons, right? I also remember hearing that florine is REALLY dangerous stuff, so if you used that as an oxidizer, wouldn't that make a nice lethal byproduct?

Offline gregpawin

  • Cradle Bandit
  • Chemist
  • Full Member
  • *
  • Posts: 245
  • Mole Snacks: +22/-5
  • Gender: Male
  • Ebichu chu chu chuses you!
Re:O2 - Is this what a fire needs to burn?
« Reply #5 on: April 21, 2004, 08:18:51 PM »
Right, there are many reactions, that are spontaneous and involve burning, but combustion of hydrocarbons are their own catagory of reactions.  I wonder if combustion reactions also encompass those type of reactions too.
I've got nothin'

Offline Mitch

  • General Chemist
  • Administrator
  • Sr. Member
  • *
  • Posts: 5298
  • Mole Snacks: +376/-3
  • Gender: Male
  • "I bring you peace." -Mr. Burns
    • Chemistry Blog
Re:O2 - Is this what a fire needs to burn?
« Reply #6 on: April 21, 2004, 08:37:15 PM »
I remember reading somewhere that combustion, strictly speaking, involves the consumption of O2. Although people use the term combustion loosely
Most Common Suggestions I Make on the Forums.
1. Start by writing a balanced chemical equation.
2. Don't confuse thermodynamic stability with chemical reactivity.
3. Forum Supports LaTex

AgG

  • Guest
Re:O2 - Is this what a fire needs to burn?
« Reply #7 on: November 21, 2005, 03:17:29 AM »
agreed. I've never read anything to the contrary.  combustion is not combustion without O2

Offline limpet chicken

  • mad scientist
  • Full Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 750
  • Mole Snacks: +49/-27
  • Gender: Male
  • Vote Limpet for supreme emperor of the new order
Re:O2 - Is this what a fire needs to burn?
« Reply #8 on: December 01, 2005, 08:00:14 PM »
As for fluorine, it isn't really the byproduct in most cases you need worry about, F2 is a plain VICIOUS gas, and is a great problem to handle it, try to vent some from a monel/passivated nickel metal pressurised canister, through a standard hose, and that hose bursts right into flames, spewing lethal fluorine gas everywhere.

If you were to theoretically make sodium fluoride directly, I would be FAR more happy around the NaF, than around fluorine gas, I tried making elemental fluorine a couple of years ago on a nano scale, didn't succeed, as my chemistry knownledge was not quite up to the level it is now, but put it this way, it involved a gas mask with acid gas filter, and FULL body protection, with elbow length gloves, full facial protective hood and eye protection, and a somewhat nervour chemist working in a very well ventilated garage with the door WIDE open ;D

Be careful with fluorine, it bites, and when it does, it bites like a bone-dissolving pit bull ;D
The light blinds
So behold darkness as our new light
In our darkness we can see
So with others blindness
We take flight.

Offline lemonoman

  • Atmospheric
  • Chemist
  • Full Member
  • *
  • Posts: 607
  • Mole Snacks: +71/-8
  • Gender: Male
Re:O2 - Is this what a fire needs to burn?
« Reply #9 on: December 02, 2005, 01:30:15 AM »
F2 is a plain VICIOUS gas, and is a great problem to handle it, try to vent some from a monel/passivated nickel metal pressurised canister, through a standard hose, and that hose bursts right into flames, spewing lethal fluorine gas everywhere.

Are you speaking from experience? :P

AgG

  • Guest
Re:O2 - Is this what a fire needs to burn?
« Reply #10 on: December 02, 2005, 01:37:56 PM »
obviously!

Offline limpet chicken

  • mad scientist
  • Full Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 750
  • Mole Snacks: +49/-27
  • Gender: Male
  • Vote Limpet for supreme emperor of the new order
Re:O2 - Is this what a fire needs to burn?
« Reply #11 on: December 04, 2005, 01:43:35 PM »
I used the monel metal canister as an example of what it takes to store F2 safely, I have once prepared elemental F2 on a very small scale, which, as expected, set the rubber hose on fire at contact.
« Last Edit: December 04, 2005, 01:44:20 PM by limpet chicken »
The light blinds
So behold darkness as our new light
In our darkness we can see
So with others blindness
We take flight.

Offline constant thinker

  • mad scientist
  • Sr. Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 1275
  • Mole Snacks: +85/-45
  • Gender: Male
Re:O2 - Is this what a fire needs to burn?
« Reply #12 on: December 05, 2005, 08:11:09 PM »
Whoaaa how do I make this stuff(Flourine)?

JUST Kidding. Sounds like a dangereous gas. Isn't it one of the most reactive elements known to man?
"The nine most terrifying words in the English language are, 'I'm from the government and I'm here to help.' " -Ronald Reagan

"I'm for anything that gets you through the night, be it prayer, tranquilizers, or a bottle of Jack Daniels." -Frank Sinatra

Offline Alberto_Kravina

  • Assault Chemist
  • Retired Staff
  • Full Member
  • *
  • Posts: 608
  • Mole Snacks: +70/-15
Re:O2 - Is this what a fire needs to burn?
« Reply #13 on: December 06, 2005, 07:52:00 AM »
Quote
Whoaaa how do I make this stuff(Flourine)?

JUST Kidding. Sounds like a dangereous gas. Isn't it one of the most reactive elements known to man?

Fluorine is made by electrolysis of NaF(l)

Fluorine is the most reactive element
« Last Edit: December 06, 2005, 07:53:09 AM by Alberto_Kravina »

Offline lemonoman

  • Atmospheric
  • Chemist
  • Full Member
  • *
  • Posts: 607
  • Mole Snacks: +71/-8
  • Gender: Male
Re:O2 - Is this what a fire needs to burn?
« Reply #14 on: December 06, 2005, 03:10:42 PM »
Getting back to combustion,

Quote
Fluorine is the most reactive of the non-metals, and will combine with most other elements. Only a few of the noble gases do not combine with this element. It corrodes platinum, a metal that resists most other chemicals. In a stream of fluorine gas many substances burn with a bright flame, including finely-divided metals, glass, ceramics, carbon, wood, rubber and even water.
from Visual Elements

GLASS?? Now THAT I've gotta see...a movie of it I mean  :P...Pretty rough stuff.
« Last Edit: December 06, 2005, 03:11:55 PM by lemonoman »

Sponsored Links