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Trees can explode when struck by lightning. [3] [15] [16] [17] The strong electric current is carried mostly by the water-conducting sapwood below the bark, heating it up and boiling the water. The pressure of the steam can make the trunk burst. [3] [17] This happens especially with trees whose trunks are already dying or rotting.
A large compost pile can spontaneously combust if improperly managed. Spontaneous combustion or spontaneous ignition is a type of combustion which occurs by self-heating (increase in temperature due to exothermic internal reactions), followed by thermal runaway (self heating which rapidly accelerates to high temperatures) and finally, autoignition. [1]
The autoignition temperature or self-ignition temperature, often called spontaneous ignition temperature or minimum ignition temperature (or shortly ignition temperature) and formerly also known as kindling point, of a substance is the lowest temperature at which it spontaneously ignites in a normal atmosphere without an external source of ignition, such as a flame or spark. [1]
The burning of a solid material may appear to lose weight if the mass of combustion gases (such as carbon dioxide and water vapor) are not taken into account. The original mass of flammable material and the mass of the oxygen consumed (typically from the surrounding air) equals the mass of the flame products (ash, water, carbon dioxide, and ...
The creation of sparks from metals is based on the pyrophoricity of small metal particles, and pyrophoric alloys are made for this purpose. [2] Practical applications include the sparking mechanisms in lighters and various toys, using ferrocerium; starting fires without matches, using a firesteel; the flintlock mechanism in firearms; and spark testing ferrous metals.
A lean flashover (sometimes called rollover) is the ignition of the gas layer under the ceiling, leading to total involvement of the compartment. The air–fuel ratio is at the bottom region of the flammability range (i.e. lean). A rich flashover occurs when the flammable gases are ignited while at the upper region of the flammability range (i ...
A Tesla car battery "spontaneously" burst into flames on a California freeway Saturday, and firefighters needed 6,000 gallons of water to put it out.
A certain concentration of a flammable or combustible vapor is necessary to sustain combustion in air, the lower flammable limit, and that concentration is specific to each flammable or combustible liquid. The flash point is the lowest temperature at which there will be enough flammable vapor to support combustion when an ignition source is ...