Did man discover or invent fire?

Question

Man discovered fire burning in the caveman days but how did he harness it? It meant ways of starting fire such as sparks from flint on dry piles of grass. What is your opinion?

Answer 1

Man Discovered fire, because long before man was even remotely existing, there was fire.

Answer 2

nope i think it has alwayz been their but one day sum caveman jus decided that sum orange stuff waz esstentail 2 livin

Answer 3

discovered

Answer 4

You can't INVENT fire!

Answer 5

They were chipping stone for their tools and figured out that the sparks could start a fire.  They chipped alot of stone and would have noticed that, I am sure.

Answer 6

It's hard to know, but I think humans would first have taken fire from smoldering trees which had been set alight by lightning.  They would have passed the fire from tribe to tribe, place to place, much like the Olympic torch. It was probably a tradeable item.

If the fire went out, they worked out that the fire was still 'inside' the wood even though the flame wasn't visible.

So someone would have finally worked out that rubbing the wood with a stick would eventually release the fire, even wood which had never been burning.

Answer 7

Man discovered fire and invented ways of transporting it and starting one.

Answer 8

Discovered. It existed long before man.

Answer 9

Fire is a chemical reaction that has always existed since the beginning of time. Man just discovered fire.

Answer 10

Man discovered fire. He probably first found fire that was caused by lightening. He later found out that he could buy throw away lighters in stores.

Answer 11

Fire occurs naturally in nature, so humans in no way, shape or form invented it.  They found a way to manipulate it at will.

Answer 12

Fire has always existed here on Earth, so man discovered it & eventually learned to make it.  One could say man invented ways of making fire, but not fire.  It is suspected that the 1st fire came from a lightening strike..  However we can only conjecture as to how the hominid concluded it could be taken elsewhere & used to produce warmth & eventually cook food.

Chuckle, now you force a guess as to wheather the 1st method of producing fire was via the bow & stick or 2 rocks. I lean toward the stick on a dry log method.

Answer 13

It was there for us to see if you want to call that discovering.  We invented ways to create it from scratch and many uses of it.  We use it to cook with.  It is added security since most animals fear it to some degree.  It was used to clear brush and open more land up for exploitation.  Fire hardened spears and was also useful in manufacturing other things.

Answer 14

prometheus stole it from the gods and gave ut to man

Answer 15

Yes. A caveman did discover it...ITS LIKE THAT IN EVERY MOVIE ABOUT PREHISTORIC TIMES!!!!

Answer 16

They don't know fire before they see fire started from Lightning.

Answer 17

Fire is one of the element of life.

Answer 18

he prolly observed how when he rubbed things, they got hot...just rub your skin to see for yourself. once he saw this, he prolly wondered just how hot it would get if he were to keep rubbing it. commence rubbing...getting hotter....poof....now thas a FIRE!!!! there ya go....history 101.

Answer 19

Well, an invention is so named because it does not exist until a person conceives and realizes it.  Things like the cotton gin and IPod qualify as inventions.

Fire was long in existence before man harnessed its power.  In fact, fire was most likely the inspiration for inventions like the fire pit, fire place, and fire dog (known as the dalmation).  But the fire itself did not require inventing.

In a similar vein, consider the salt water aquarium.  Nobody sees that and asks if man invented the ocean.  It is assumed to have existed; even before humans were invented.

Now there's a question for you- were human being invented or discovered?

Answer 20

Man discovered fire.

Answer 21

you can't invent something that already exists like electricity so man discovered fire

Answer 22

Our Anthropology professor told us that man discovered fire by simulating the sexual intercourse using two pieces of wood. But then again, I think he's just a little frustrated.

Answer 23

Humans discovered fire from burning trees, for example, after lightning strikes.  Then, humans discovered ways and invented processes and equipment with which to harness fire.

Answer 24

I really think lightning invented fire, but it was difficult for early man to sustain and move his source of fire from place to place.  Want to see a good movie on this very subject?  Get "Quest for Fire".  Absolutely the best movie on early man I have ever seen.