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Spontaneous combustion is a type of combustion that 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, ignition. For example, phosphorus self-ignites at room temperature without the application of heat.
A particularly important class of exothermic reactions is combustion of a hydrocarbon fuel, e.g. the burning of natural gas: CH 4 + 2O 2 → CO 2 + 2H 2 O ΔH⚬ = - 890 kJ/mol Video of an exothermic reaction. Ethanol vapor is ignited inside a bottle, causing combustion. These sample reactions are strongly exothermic.
According to the IUPAC, an exothermic reaction is "a reaction for which the overall standard enthalpy change ΔH⚬ is negative". [4] Some examples of exothermic process are fuel combustion, condensation and nuclear fission, [5] which is used in nuclear power plants to release large amounts of energy. [6]
The combustion of a stoichiometric mixture of fuel and oxidizer (e.g. two moles of hydrogen and one mole of oxygen) in a steel container at 25 °C (77 °F) is initiated by an ignition device and the reactions allowed to complete. When hydrogen and oxygen react during combustion, water vapor is produced.
Typical examples of exothermic reactions are combustion, precipitation and crystallization, in which ordered solids are formed from disordered gaseous or liquid phases. In contrast, in endothermic reactions, heat is consumed from the environment.
For example, when a lighter is held to a candle, the applied heat causes the fuel molecules in the candle wax to vaporize. [ note 1 ] In this state they can then readily react with oxygen in the air, which gives off enough heat in the subsequent exothermic reaction to vaporize yet more fuel, thus sustaining a consistent flame.
Incomplete reaction at higher temperature further curtails the effect of a larger heat of combustion. [citation needed] Because most combustion processes that happen naturally occur in the open air, there is nothing that confines the gas to a particular volume like the cylinder in an engine.
Combustion consists of various radical chain reactions that the singlet radical can initiate. The flammability of a given material strongly depends on the concentration of radicals that must be obtained before initiation and propagation reactions dominate leading to combustion of the material. Once the combustible material has been consumed ...