Fire

Fire is the rapid oxidation of a substance to produce heat, carbon dioxide, water vapor and smoke.

Although rusting and digestion are forms of oxidation, they are not considered fire in that they do not happen fast enough.

There are four ingredients to fire. Fuel, Oxygen, Heat and the Chain Reaction of Burning. Remove any of the four and fire stops.

If you have a flame on the stove, turn the gas flow off. You have removed the fuel.

If you have a small fire, you can mix baking soda with vinegar to produce Carbon dioxide which is heavier than Oxygen. Pour the Carbon dioxide on the fire and the fire will suffocate because the Carbon dioxide will act as a barrier between the fuel and oxygen.

This is how a carbon dioxide fire extinguisher works.

Applying water to a fire reduces the heat and slows or stops the fire.

A fire retardant stops the chain reaction that fuels a fire.

Fire is considered an exothermic reaction in that heat is released. The sun is not a big ball of fire. It is energy produced by nuclear fusion at it's core and released as electromagnetic radiation.

Gasoline is burned in a controlled burn in your car.

When early man began to control fire, they were able to heat their surroundings, come down out of the trees to sleep on the ground and most importantly to cook food. Westerners usually think of the Greek story of Prometheus stealing fire for man. However the theft of fire story is found in cultures all over the world.

The process of cooking food allows a greater amount of nutrition to fuel large organs of the body like the brain. The brain uses twenty percent of the energy of the food you eat. Cooking also destroyed microbes that could cause disease.

Language and fire equally are evolutionary steps that allowed man to develop the intelligence it has. Now if a quick way to achieve wisdom is found, we may take care of our environment better.