I know something similar has been asked before but it was different as in just wanting to know what happens to the fuel of a fire and I didn’t exactly find the information I’m looking for.
My question is, I guess, more so asking for specific details about combustion.
Google’s online dictionary basically explained combustion as the process of fire “consuming” it’s fuel.
I was then wondering if this was comparable, even if only in analogy, to fire actually eating the fuel like maybe the matter which said fuel is composed of actually transforms Into fire as it burns rather than only producing fire as it breaks down from burning.
In: Chemistry
Fire isn’t really a “thing”, it’s a process.
When the fuel ignites, it starts a chemical reaction. The molecules in the fuel and in the air rearrange themselves into new molecules (aka smoke, ash, and gasses like water vapor and carbon dioxide).
The reaction also releases a bunch of energy. All that energy heats up the molecules involved in the reaction. Hot enough that they visibly glow. It’s exactly the same as a really hot chunk of metal. It’s just the particles are so small that they can be suspended and float in the air.
In other words, fire is just smoke that’s still red hot.
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