Plasma, gas, liquid, solid, the 4 types of elements. what is fire?

Question

all threw out my schooling career (which i might add is only 9 years) i have been told that everything that scientist know of right now can be catagorized into 4 things, liquid, plasma, gas, solid. and every year i hear this i ask my teacher what is fire, they never kno. can any one help me?

Answer 1

Fire is simply light and heat energy being given off by the combustion of wood or another flammable material. The wood (assume the flammable material is wood) itself is a solid, of course.

Answer 2

Fire is actually not matter, it is both light and heat ENERGY.

It does not have mass, and does not take up space, therefore it is not matter.

And you forgot one state of matter--the Bose-Einstein Condensate.

Answer 3

Fire is the rapid Oxidation (Combustion) of a fuel vapour burning in Oxygen.

It is a highly 'Exothermic' reaction that also gives out Light (flames) and large quantities of Heat Energy.

The products of this reaction are generally all gaseous as CO2, H2O vapour and, if insufficient oxygen is supplied, the formation of CO gas and solid Carbon (as sooty smoke) may also be present.

Some will say that fire is also 'Plasma' a Fourth state and there's also a Fifth state, not associated with fire, the 'Bose-Einstein Condensate'.

My learning was that, Matter exists in Three States...Solid, Liquid and Gas and, as far as I'm concerned, that's enough for me, as I'm not a Scientist nor a Professor and don't wish to be involved with such subjects as the 4th and 5th States of Matter. I'm quite happy with the knowledge I have.

(The Old Four Elements once used many years ago are...

Earth, Wind, Fire and Water).

Answer 4

Fire is a chemical reaction between elements.

Answer 5

I would say fire is a gas because that is what is burning...  

Answer 6

"Fire is a phenomenon of combustion manifested in intense heat and light in the form of a glow or flames. The word fire when used with an indefinite article is commonly used to describe either a fuel in a state of combustion (such as a campfire or a fire in a fireplace or kitchen stove) or an instance of violent, destructive and uncontrolled burning (such as a wildfire and fires in buildings and vehicles).

Fire is not a state of matter, it is an exothermic chemical reaction accompanied by intense heat released during a rapid oxidation of combustible material."

Answer 7

i always thought it was plasma

Answer 8

First of all there are 5, not 4 states of matter, namely:

Solids

Liquids

Gas

Plasma

Bose Einstein Condensate {BEC}

And fire is not a state of matter, it is a chemical reaction between elements which gives out light, heat and energy. So I hope I helped you.

By the way, it's funny you thought of this. Ancient philosophers also beleived that there were 4 states of matter, namely

earth

water

sky {or air}

fire!

And Indian philosophers believed in 5 states of matter {or Panch Tatva, as they were called}

earth

water

sky

air

fire!

Answer 9

I was always told that fire was the "exception". I always wondered this myself..

Answer 10

its energy, so none of the above

Answer 11

Fire is not an element. It is the results of a chemical reaction, which in most cases is rapid oxidation of a combustible material.

Answer 12

Fire is the heat and light energy given off by a chemical reaction. For example the gas from your stove is called methane CH4 which burns in the presence of oxygen O2 in the following way

CH4 + 2 O2 ----> CO2 + 2 H2O + energy

The energy is a product because, if you remember, when the products are more stable than the reactants energy is released and the reaction is exothermic releasing heat as energy.

Light is also given off because the electrons from your molecules are excited and then fall back down to their ground state releasing a photon( particles of light). The color of the light is usually orange, yellow with a brighter and hotter blue underneath. The heat is not only from the reaction but from infrared light ( IR radiation).

Fire is usually orange because this is the color associated with the substance being burned that contain carbon or its compounds. Wood contains a lot a lot a lot of carbon compounds. There are many more organic compounds than there are inorganic and inorganic compounds aren't known to be too flammable or combustible so we rarely see these compounds burn but if you did you'd see different colors.

Answer 13

Fire is a plasma