I understand there are 4 states of matter. Solid, liquid, gaseous, and plasma.
So my question is: in what state is fire???
I’ve done some googling, and apparently this question is a little hard to answer. It takes on some properties from three states, but is technically none of them.
Please someone put me out of my misery and educate this poor stupid human.
In: Chemistry
“Fire” isn’t really a state. It’s the result of a chemical reaction. Specifically, exothermic (energy release) oxidation, where (generally) a more complex organic (carbon-containing) molecule breaks down in the presence of oxygen to produce CO2. This releases energy previously stored in the bonds of the fuel source, which assists in nearby bonds similarly braking and releasing *more* energy in a runaway reaction known as *burning*. The energy coming off these molecules becomes both light and heat.
So, fire is not a state of matter, but the visible result of molecules changing, usually from solid or liquid to gas, but the ‘fire’ part of that isn’t contained in a state itself.
Fire is a gas.
When you heat ANYTHING to a specific temperature, it gives off light of a specific color.
Fire is just gas that is hot enough to give off red/orange/yellow light.
Since it is giving off visible light and the air around isnt, you can see it, and it looks special, but it is really just hot gas.
Fire itself is not a state but a process. The flame however is mostly plasma with the colder areas of the flame being a gas. A lot of experiments involving plasma actually uses a flame as it is one of the easiest way to create plasma.
The common states of matter are states in which you can have bunches of atoms of things from the periodic table, i.e. “stuff”.
Fire isn’t made of atoms. It’s the light given off from energetic chemical reactions. It looks like a gas because it tends to be above something that’s burning, which is itself usually at least turning into a gas, but really it’s just electrons with extra energy that they’re dumping as photons of the right wavelength to carry that energy.
It’s like asking the state of matter of sunlight. It doesn’t really belong in those categories.
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