Mitch Forte, Johnny Cervantes Mr.

Schiller Biology 1/20/12 Oxidation-reduction reactions of fire INTRO Calieo, Juan, and I collaborated on this project because we were all very intrigued about the process of fire. What we didnt realize was how little we knew about the subject. We have gone to several websites and have gone to the downtown Los Angeles public library to get some college research books on the subject. We have come pretty far from our ignorance, but we have not nearly gone as deep as we can yet. So far we have found out that the chemical reaction in which fire is created is a rapid oxidation-reduction reaction. A fire starts when fuel, heat over flash point, and oxygen are present. The chemical reaction is what ignites the flame. Also the color of the flame can change. We also looked at some experiments with fire on the internet. We will dive into all these subjects in the body of our essay. Enjoy.

OXIDATION-REDUCTION REACTION Our original intent was to light stuff on fire. But you said (Mr. Schiller) we need a lot more before we do any experimentsso we did. We found out that the reaction that causes fire is an oxidation-reduction reaction. Oxidation-reduction, more commonly referred as Redox, reactions are all reactions in which an atoms oxidation state is changed. Oxidation means the loss of electrons, or the increase in the oxidation state of an atom, molecule, or ion. Reduction, on the other hand, is the exact opposite. Reduction is the gain of electrons and loss in the oxidation state by an atom, molecule, or ion. There can never be a reaction where there is only the oxidation and no reduction. Redox reactions are a match set, meaning that one cannot do with out the other. Each reaction by itself is called a half reaction, because we need two halves to make whole reaction. Examples of oxidation-reduction reactions are rust, fire, cellular respiration, photosynthesis, and many more. A lot of these you would not even guess that they were redox reactions. Cellular respiration the glucose (sugar) is oxidized and releases the energy and Oxygen is reduced to form water. Fire is a rapid oxidation-reduction reaction. It depends on several variables to start and to continue. This redox reaction is commonly thought of as a danger to society. Well in our next section will tell you otherwise, and we will also tell you much more than that.

FIRE

Fire is made up of four different types of elements, to create fire you need to have oxygen, heat, fuel, and will need to have a chain reaction. This is formally called the fire tetrahedron. The flame can be put out by taking out one of the effects of what the flame is caused by, for example if there is a fire burning down a house it can be put out by extinguishing the supply of the fuel, which in this case is the house. When fire combusts it exhorts heat and that heat can be measured by the color of the fire. The different colors determine whether how much heat is being let off of the source. The colors that determine the heat are red, orange, and white. Red is the least amount of heat and can be found in a candle or in a cigarette. Orange flame is has a higher temperature and is about the heat of a blowtorch flame. White is the greatest amount of heat that can be seen and it is most likely to be located on a Bunsen burner. In a test that NASA did it showed that gravity has something to do with the way the flame burns. In the gravity on earth the candle makes a cylinder type of shape whereas in zero gravity the flame forms a spherical shape. What the results of this test show are that fire can be made in zero gravity but instead of rising up like it would usually do it just formed a ball. The reason it formed in to a ball is because when something is exposed to zero gravity it will ball up, like water. The fire is attached to a source and it cant leave that source because if it does then it wont

be able to sustain its self because the fuel source has been cut off causing it to be put out. But since it doesnt detach it just forms a ball around the source.

HEAT When a fire is burning there are different types of heat that can come off of the flame, the heat of the flame are separated into different colors. The first color is red and there are five different types of red. The first type is just visible which is very light and gives off the least amount of heat the most heat it can generate Is 980F. The next stage is dull which is visible but can generate a heat of 1,300F. The next three stages are cherry dull, cherry full, and cherry clear. Cherry dull is visible also but can only generate a heat of 1,500F. The next stage is cherry full; it can generate a heat of 1,700F, which isnt that much hotter than cherry dull but it can still decimate most structures. That last red stage is cherry clear, it can generate a heat of 1,800F, and is the hottest a red flame will become, after the red flame is at its final stage it moves on to the orange flame. Orange flame has two stages and they are deep and clear. Deep is the first stage and can generating about 2,000F but the color is light. Clear the second stage of orange fire and it generates a heat of about 2,200F. After the flame has reached the max amount of heat for orange it moves on to white, which is the hottest it can get. There are three stages and they are whitish, bright, and dazzling. Whitish flame is the first stage and it is about 2,400F and will indefinitely burn you to death. The second stage of white flame is bright; it can generate a heat of

2,600F and can most likely melt most metals. The last stage is dazzling and it is incredibly hot it has a heat of 2,700F and can really incinerate all of someones body leaving no remains.

OTHER INFO On the continuation of the color, color doesnt always mean the change of heat. There are different ways of adding color to the fire, such as adding sodium chloride (table salt) to get a bright yellow fire. Depending what kind of chemicals you add to the fire, you will get different colors. This trait is dominated by blackbody radiation form soot and steam. This technique is mostly used by Pyrotechnicians to color their flames. They use metal salts instead of chemicals. Color enhancers are usually added to bring out the color more. The most common is polyvinyl chloride. We want to talk about flashpoint and vapor points. Flashpoint is the lowest temperature in which volatile materials ignite. Volatility is the ability of a liquid to vaporize. It is not the same as the autoignition temperature, which sparks without an ignition source. A flammable liquid with a high vapor point will burn a lot faster than a liquid with a low vapor point. Why? Because when it vaporizes it is spread far as a gas. Low vapor points, since they dont vaporize fast, will tend to burn a lot longer. Some high vapor point liquids are gasoline, nail polish remover, and alcohol. Some low vapor point liquids are hand sanitizer, naphtha, and kerosene. There are some experiments that have been tried with low vapor point liquids. We looked up on youtube some kids using hand sanitizer (ethyl-alcohol)

to light their hand on fire. Though he didnt know the science behind it, we did. You see, when he lit his hand on fire, he wasnt actually burning his hand. He was burning the vapor around it. So while the liquid was cool, the vapor was on fire. The experiments we looked at included fireballs, flamethrower, lighting hands on fire, and fireworks. All of these were very informational projects, though not all of the instructors knew what they were doing. Auto- Oxidation is the process of slow oxidation which is accompanying the evolution of heat. Many fires can be ignited automatically which is also called Auto- Oxidation. The rapid of oxidation fuel is usually heat and light put together. When fuel wants to be burned it has to reach a certain temperature to start the fire. When oxygen attacks the fuel of the fire it starts to break down the molecules. If there is a rapid combustion then heat and light are given off, but if there is a slow combustion then oxidation takes place slowly. For example our body is the slow combustion, because of the substances that we eat which gives us energy, and they help give us new cells. Fire is the chemical reaction of oxygen and fuel mixed together. During a fire, gaseous fuel forms a rich region in fuel vapor. Fire is always depending on fuel for the ignition temperature if no fuel is with the fire then it cannot ignite. Dense- phase do not depend on oxygen, but the oxidation made possible. The energy released by the combination of the oxygen causes the fuel molecules to appear as heat.

If something is burned the substance becomes a new substance. Nitrogen cannot support the life or the combustion. Fuel air diffuses the explosion as to dense phase, which concentrates the explosions.

OUR EXPERIMENT What we agreed upon after having several conversations deciding on what it should be. At first, we all just wanted to light our hands on fire, but then we thought about originality. After a while we finally decided that we should do an experiment about the effects of different fuels and metal salts on fire. For low budget purposes will probably go to the 99-cent store, Rite-Aid, and Home Depot to get what we need. We still need to find a legal place to work though. The items we will need include 1.Hair spray 2.Spray deodorant 3.Hand sanitizer 4.Alcohol 5. Acetone (nail polish remover) 6.Lighters 7.Boric acid 8.Copper wires 9.Salt and probably a lot more materials. We want to test how big the fire will get, how hot it is, what certain chemicals do to the fire color, and how fast it will die out. We can use a video camera such as my IPod touch or my Canon Rebel T1i to record and document our findings. And we will also be able to shoot some still while were at it.

BIBLIOGRAPHY http://video.about.com/chemistry/Green-Fire.htm GREEN FIRE http://energyquest.ca.gov/how_it_works/fire.html HOW DOES FIRE WORK? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fire FIRE http://www.fs-business.com/FAQ/FAQFirePhenomena.asp FIRE QUESTIONS http://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/fuels-ignition-temperatures-d_171.html FUEL AUTO IGNITION TEMPATURES http://www.sciencecompany.com/sci-exper/flamecolors.htm CREATING FLAME COLORS http://video.about.com/chemistry/Handheld-Fireballs.htm HAND HELD FIREBALLS http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/fire.aspx#1 FIRE FACTS http://library.kcc.hawaii.edu/external/chemistry/everyday_photosyn.html PHOTOSYNTHESIS http://www.shodor.org/unchem/advanced/redox/ OXIDATION-REDUCTION REACTIONS http://faculty.clintoncc.suny.edu/faculty/michael.gregory/files/bio %20101/bio%20101%20lectures/cellular%20respiration/cellular.htm

CELLURLAR RESPIRATION http://www.wiley.com/college/boyer/0470003790/reviews/redox/redox.htm REDOX REACTIONS http://science.howstuffworks.com/question445.htm HOW DOES RUST WORK file://localhost/E:/ARTSEDGE%20Oxidation%20and%20Combustion %20Chemical%20Reactions%20in%20Fire.mht OXIDATION AND REDUCTION file://localhost/E:/Chemistry%20of%20Fire.mht CHEMISTRY OF FIRE http://www.daviddarling.info/encyclopedia/R/redox_reaction.html REDOX http://www.daviddarling.info/encyclopedia/C/combustion.html COMBUSTION http://www.processoperations.com/FireExplode/FE_MainCentre.htm FIRE AND EXPLOSIONS http://web.princeton.edu/sites/ehs/hazardcommguide/7.htm FLAMIBLE LIQUIDS file://localhost/E:/Flash%20point%20-%20Wikipedia,%20the%20free %20encyclopedia.mht FLASH POINT file://localhost/E:/Fuel%20-%20Wikipedia,%20the%20free %20encyclopedia.mht

FUEL http://www.osfm.fire.ca.gov/firelaws/firelaw.php FIRE MARSHAL CHEMISTRY BY TIMBELAKE-BOOK CHEMISTRY BY OUELLETE (FOURTH EDITION)-BOOK COLLEGE CHEMISTRY BY LINUS PAULING-BOOK