What can be used to light a match?

Question

i was just wondering what can b used to light a match besides the striker on the match box?

Answer 1

Any reasonably dry surface with a high coefficient of friction. The friction is needed so that the work you do in pushing it over the surface is converted to heat, which builds up enough to cause the match head to combust.

You could use a brick, dry wood, or perhaps even a 5 o' clock shadow if it's coarse enough. Ask Clint Eastwood if you can borrow his face next time you see him.

Answer 2

It really depends on the match. If it is a strike anywhere match, you can strike it on anything that can cause friction.

For example, you could use a rock or a piece of leather, even.

Answer 3

fire

Answer 4

There are two types of matches - strike anywhere, and safety.

The strike anywhere match contains phosphorous, sulphur and sand, crushing the sand or causing friction is enough to cause the chemical reaction of the phosphorous and sulphur to react. This will occour if heated with sunlight, laser or other heat source, or if a strong acid is used.

The safety match is similar, except the two ingredients are on different things - the match head and the striker. Friction is still used to get the reaction going, but the catylist is on the striker. The match head is chlorate based combined with a carbon compound, so is less reactive, and will not usually ignite if crushed - unless with the striker chemicals.

Answer 5

A lighter.

Answer 6

For a  safety match, the chemicals on the striker surface are part of the reaction that makes the match ignite. To otherwise get it to ignite would require a lot of friction to sufficiently heat it up. This is by design, so it is very difficult to get it to ignite without using the striker.

For a strike-anywhere match (sometimes known as a "blue tip") both chemicals are in the match tip so you need a lot less friction. I have had strike-anywhere matches ignite simply by dropping the box off a ladder. You can ignite these on almost anything except a wet bar of soap, and they are getting hard to find.

Answer 7

There's no way I could top lavalamp's answer, but I'll just add the bottom of your shoe to the list.  At least, I saw it in a cartoon... or an old movie... I don't remember.

Answer 8

Depends on the match. Strike anywhere, means anywhere you can create friction, like even your zipper. The others only strike on the box. I suggest investing in a lighter.

Answer 9

Lavalamp and Mr.P have covered most angles so I can only think of three others that came to mind immediately. One is a magnifying glass and the other is a piece of curved clear glass like from a soda pop bottle and the third is reading spectacles.