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
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.
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