eli5 How exactly does a lighter produce flame?
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A lighter stores fuel. Either regular liquid fuel or pressurized liquified gas fuel.
This fuel is then converted to a gas. In the pressurized ones, releasing it turns it into a gas because of the lower pressure. In the regular liquid fuel lighters, the liquid is soaked up by a wick and evaporates at the top of the wick.
This gas then mixes with air, and once struck, that fuel-air mix reacts in fire. It’s struck by a metal scraper on ferrocerium, and as the ferrocerium is scratched it produces sparks to start the fire.
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