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The control of fire by early humans was a critical technology enabling the evolution of humans. Fire provided a source of warmth and lighting , protection from predators (especially at night), a way to create more advanced hunting tools, and a method for cooking food.
Fire was one of many archai proposed by the pre-Socratics, most of whom sought to reduce the cosmos, or its creation, to a single substance. Heraclitus (c. 535 BCE – c. 475 BCE) considered fire to be the most fundamental of all elements. He believed fire gave rise to the other three elements: "All things are an interchange for fire, and fire ...
A burning candle. Fire is the rapid oxidation of a material (the fuel) in the exothermic chemical process of combustion, releasing heat, light, and various reaction products. [1] [a] At a certain point in the combustion reaction, called the ignition point, flames are produced.
The origin of the Roman god of fire Vulcan has been traced back to the Cretan god Velchanos by Gérard Capdeville, primarily under the suggestion of the close similarity of their names. [52] Cretan Velchanos is a young god of Mediterranean or Near Eastern origin who has mastership of fire and is the companion of the Great Goddess.
Fire history, the ecological science of studying the history of wildfires, is a subdiscipline of fire ecology. Patterns of forest fires in historical and prehistorical times provide information relevant to the vegetation pattern in modern landscapes.
Fire making, fire lighting or fire craft is the process of artificially starting a fire. It requires completing the fire triangle , usually by heating tinder above its autoignition temperature . Fire is an essential tool for human survival and the use of fire was important in early human cultural history since the Lower Paleolithic .
A fire is contained in a firebox or fire pit; a chimney or other flue allows exhaust gas to escape. A fireplace may have the following: a foundation, a hearth, a firebox, a mantel , a chimney crane (used in kitchen and laundry fireplaces), a grate, a lintel , a lintel bar, an overmantel , a damper , a smoke chamber, a throat, a flue, and a ...
Fire worship in Graeco-Roman tradition had two separate forms: fire of the hearth and fire of the forge. Hearth worship was maintained in Rome by the Vestal Virgins , who served the goddess Vesta , protector of the home, who had a sacred flame as the symbol of her presence in the city ( cf. Sacred fire of Vesta ).