6 ms·
It kind of blew my mind to learn (and internalize) that everything burns under the right conditions (mostly temperature). Metals, bodies, water, everything.
by jotm 5y ago
It kind of blew my mind to learn (and internalize) that everything burns under the right conditions (mostly temperature). Metals, bodies, water, everything.
- aidenn0 5y agoDepending on your definition of "burn" the noble gases might not qualify; they'll form stable compounds with fluorine as the oxidant but not oxygen
- willis936 5y agoIf burning requires breaking chemical bonds: loads of substances don't burn. If burning is the act of ionizing, then everything burns. Humans like to put things in neat boxes, but nature doesn't really care about our boxes.
- aidenn0 5y agoBurning certainly does not require breaking chemical bonds (or else Hydrogen is not flammable). I always considered burning to be oxidation; possibly only when oxygen is the oxidizing agent.
- pdonis 5y agoHow would you burn water?
- ncmncm 5y agoYou would need stuff that steals the hydrogen away from the oxygen, or the oxygen away from the hydrogen. It probably involves fluorine or sodium.
- weberer 5y agoIf you pass water vapor through a high voltage spark gap, it creates hydrogen peroxide. Not sure if that would count as "burning".