Can you set wood on fire with water exceeding 300 degrees Fahrenheit?

Question

Can you set wood on fire with water exceeding 300 degrees Fahrenheit?

Answer 1

If water is heated past its critical point - 374C at 218 atmospheres of pressure - it will become a supercritical fluid.  Organic materials will actually catch fire in supercritical water, though these are obviously extreme conditions!

But even then, you will still need some oxidizer to cause the combustion.

Answer 2

Water vaporises at 212 F.

Wood ignites after moisture is driven away by heat and it reaches about 540 F.

Answer 3

To get water over 300 degF, you'll have to have it under high pressure.  Paper will catch fire if it goes over 451 degF (there's a book by that name).  Wood requires a higher temperature.  But fire also requires oxygen.  So even if you get water to very high pressure, and to well over 600 degF, if there is no oxidizer (such as oxygen), wood will not burn.

Answer 4

Uh, no the water would become steam and would saturate the wood.  Thus there would be condensation on the wood.

Answer 5

­Everything has a temperature at which it will burst into flames. This temperature is called a material's flash point. Wood's flash point is 572 degrees Fahre­nheit (300 C). When wood is heated to this temperature, it releases hydrocarbon gases that mix with oxygen in the air, combust and create fire.

Answer 6

NO. water is just water... there is no possible way to have wood catch on fire... if it comes into contact with human skin, it will cause a burn, not a fire burn... but it will be extremely painful. the wood will be really warm, but really wet.