Is it possible to create a plastic or paper that, if it burns, DOESN’T create toxic choking carcinogenic fumes? Or is there something inherent in oxidization of materials (esp organic ones) that creates byproducts incompatible with life?
I was reading about how toxic the smoke from a house fire is, and wondered if humans could engineer curtains or carpet that perhaps *can* burn — but with smoke that is relatively safe to breath.
i mean obviously it would be better if stuff wasn’t flammable in the first place, but, one thing at a time 🙂
In: Chemistry
Even the “safest” most “organic” material will give off harmful stuff while being burned…..mainly because smoke allows particles to get into the lungs. The world is dirty; who knows what might have been sprayed on that log of wood which is now being inhaled through smoke
Stuff getting into the lungs is always a problem; we don’t have defenses for most non-living (bacterial or viral) stuff other than trying to cough it out
Obviously burning a puddle of gasoline produces more toxic fumes than let’s say wood, but burning ITSELF produces a chemical called carbon monoxide. Carbon monoxide literally takes oxygen from our bodies, that’s why we have detectors for it, it doesn’t even have a smell but can kill you.
>Is it possible to create a plastic or paper that, if it burns, DOESN’T create toxic choking carcinogenic fumes? Or is there something inherent in oxidization of materials (esp organic ones) that creates byproducts incompatible with life?
*Theoretically and mathematically *(stoichiometric) clean combustion in just produces water vapor, and carbon dioxide. This is hard to do in a controlled environment though. All of the oxygen and all of the fuel would be burnt to its most basic forms, water and the carbon dioxide. Incomplete combustion, like too much fuel to air ratio, has byproducts that become smoke… the half burnt fuel.
>I was reading about how toxic the smoke from a house fire is, and wondered if humans could engineer curtains or carpet that perhaps can burn — but with smoke that is relatively safe to breath.
i mean obviously it would be better if stuff wasn’t flammable in the first place, but, one thing at a time 🙂
Ironically, I think a material designed to completely combust and produce nothing but water vapor and co2 would be something like a high purity charcoal. Charcoal is pretty much just carbon so with an ideal fuel ratio produces very little smoke. More complex materials have more byproducts and secondary stages. Like a super complex plastic will have more stages to decompose to when burning than just pure carbon.
All of that being said, it would still be an issue in a house fire because it’s still producing heat and carbon dioxide. An ideal combustion ratio actually produces more heat…. so not ideal.
Ok, so the problem is that burning something is the chemistry equivalent of smashing something with a hammer. The stuff doesn’t break in a nice way. There are a lot of metaphorical “sharp edges”.
As an example, a lot of engineering goes into cars to try to make smashing the gasoline safer. Optimizing oxygen mix, catalytic converters, the fuel itself… all designed to make the gasoline break cleanly when you smash it with the ‘chemical hammer’.
And gasoline is a boring-ass molecule. It *should* break cleanly. Easily. When you get into complex biological material, like wood, the molecules are insanely complex and don’t break into safe pieces at all when you burn them.
To the best of my knowledge there are two major types of problems created by burning things:
First, burning stuff puts particles of stuff into the air, that aren’t directly created by the fire, but are more harmful when dispersed by fire. If there’s anything in the stuff you’re burning that can cause harm, then there’s a good chance that it’ll end up in fine little bits that can then be breathed in, or just spread far and wide. This includes normally harmless stuff that only causes problems when in tiny bits and inhaled into our sensitive lungs (like bits of silica) or it can be stuff that’s always bad and you don’t want spread about (like the lead, mercury, and radioactive material that’s found in coal).
Second, partial combustion creates a lot of different chemicals that are in an unstable state. Things that can burn are reactive, by nature, that’s why they can burn. They have potential energy, and burning releases some, or all, of that. Whenever you burn things some of what is burned doesn’t completely react with oxygen. This partial combustion can leave chemicals that are in a less stable state than they would be if they were completely unburnt. These unstable chemicals can’t exist in that form for very long, and they’ll react with other molecules, often in unpredictable ways, until they reach a more stable state.
A lot of these unstable, partially combusted, chemicals are carcinogens because of their unstable nature. They’re like a big rock that was at the top of a steep hill, and was pushed until it started rolling, but then it got caught up on tree or a small ledge halfway down. The rock still has a lot of potential energy, but it’s just barely being held back. A tiny bump or shift will release that energy, and the rock will roll the rest of the way down the hill, crushing anything in it’s path.
Was in a house fire and can safely say. The whole contents burning including natural and man made was totally toxic and this problem cannot be solved as even if all made of wood, bamboo, hemp and flax, the fumes are not compatible with life.
If you burn pure hydrogen, you get water.
If you “burn”(decompose) sodium chlorate, you get oxygen.
If you burn pure carbon, you get CO or CO2, depending on how much oxygen is available in the flame. CO is very poisonous, CO2 can be tolerated up to around 5000ppm(8 hours), or a bit higher for short periods.
Most common fuels will produce CO2 and water if burned with an excess of oxygen. House fires rarely burn with an excess of oxygen, so they produce a lot more smoke, and the stuff burning isn’t designed to burn cleanly.
“Bad” is subjective. Many people find the smell of burning fall leaves or wood smoke from a chimney evocative of a time or place. There is also the smell of an outdoor grill.
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