I recently bought a Zippo hand warmer, but can nowhere find the real science behind the process. can someone explain the chemical process, the byproducts of the burning, and an equation of the process? Thank you so much!
In: 1
A catalyst lowers the “threshold” for a reaction to occur. For example, burning a fuel typically requires >800°C ish temperatures before it gets going. It requires a certain energy level to start reacting. A catalyst, by definition, lowers this minimum level, e.g. it might start burning happily at just 400°C instead. The reaction is still the same, for hydrocarbon fuels it’s generally fuel>h2o+co2, the catalyst is not part of the start or end product(again, by definition), although it may be involved in some steps in the middle.
As for *exactly how* it works, I don’t know. But I do suspect though,like anything chemistry related at the most basic level, it’s gonna boil down to horribly complex quantum mechanics.
Latest Answers