Investigate Combustion

Have you ever seen something on fire? Well that's a chemical reaction happening right there in front of you. There's a special name for the type of reaction it is - combustion.

Combustion means burning. There are three things needed for a combustion reaction (for something to catch fire and remain burning).....

An example of a fuel is wood, coal, petrol or natural gas. A heat source could be a lit match or a spark. And oxygen often is supplied from the air around us.

If you haven't got one of the three in the fire triangle - fuel, heat or oxygen - the fire will go out or not even start at all. This is a good thing for fire fighters as they can use this fact to put out a fire. Water is used by fire fighters to quickly remove heat from a fire - if you remove the heat, it will go out. Powder and carbon dioxide fire extinguishers are used to remove the oxygen from a fire - again if you remove the oxygen, the fire will go out. Foam extinguishers can remove both the heat and the oxygen. 

There's a word equation to show what happens during a combustion reaction:

Fuel + Oxygen → Carbon dioxide + water + energy

Happy to try some questions on combustion now?