Eli5: Why and how does fire technically have a shape? I don’t understand the reasoning behind the border between air and fire.
In: Chemistry
Fire as you think of it is what happens when a gas burns. Even wood fire – the wood is heated until it breaks down and releases flammable vapor. Only the coals are actually a solid burning.
The inside is the gas, the outside is air. On their own, neither can burn. When they mix, at the surface between them, you get fire. This makes fire something of a hollow shell.
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