Can you burn something without oxygen?
Table of Contents
Can you burn something without oxygen?
Can a fire burn in a room with no oxygen? A fire cannot burn without oxygen. The burning that a star does, then, is a nuclear reaction, and not a chemical one like the fires on Earth (when a candle burns, the atoms themselves remain unchanged: just the molecules are affected).
How does the sun burn in space if there is no oxygen?
The Sun does not “burn”, like we think of logs in a fire or paper burning. The Sun glows because it is a very big ball of gas, and a process called nuclear fusion is taking place in its core. Hydrogen really doesn’t burn, it fuses, into helium. So no oxygen is required!
What happens when fire has no oxygen?
Without sufficient oxygen, a fire cannot begin, and it cannot continue. With a decreased oxygen concentration, the combustion process slows. Oxygen can be denied to a fire using a carbon dioxide fire extinguisher, a fire blanket or water.
How do things burn in space?
But odd things happen in space, where gravity loses its grip on solids, liquids and gases. Without gravity, hot air expands but doesn’t move upward. The flame persists because of the diffusion of oxygen, with random oxygen molecules drifting into the fire.
Why is there no oxygen in space?
We’re able to breathe on earth because the atmosphere is a mixture of gases, with the thickest gases nearest the earth’s surface, giving us the oxygen we need to breathe. In space, there is very little breathable oxygen. This prevents the oxygen atoms from joining together to form oxygen molecules.
Why is oxygen required for combustion?
So if we have carbon and we oxidize it to form carbon dioxide, the reaction of carbon with oxygen will release a lot of energy in the form of heat. Therefore, oxygen is necessary for burning because that is how we define burning.
Why oxygen is needed for burning?
Oxygen. Air contains about 21 percent oxygen, and most fires require at least 16 percent oxygen content to burn. Oxygen supports the chemical processes that occur during fire. When fuel burns, it reacts with oxygen from the surrounding air, releasing heat and generating combustion products (gases, smoke, embers, etc.).