Why Does The Fire Flame always Point Up
Why Does The Fire always Point Up
Has this question ever crossed your mind? Why does the fire flame always point up? Why not go left, right or down? As usual, we will discuss it
with physics. This is the beauty of physics, we can understand natural events.
First, let us know more about what fire really is. Fire is an
area of gas where high-speed oxidation processes occur. Oxidation itself is a
chemical reaction between a substance and oxygen. Another example of oxidation
is the process of iron plating, but this type of oxidation lasts a long time,
while oxidation in the fire takes place very quickly. The oxidation reaction
that occurs in a fire liberates a lot of energy so that heat and light arise.
That is why fire produces heat and emits light.
The occurrence of fire is one of the simplest applications of
Einstein's famous theory, E = mc2, namely that mass and energy are equivalent.
To produce energy, we need to destroy the masses. So is fire. By destroying
(burning) the mass in a piece of wood, we get energy (fire).
Because the fire produces heat, the gas that is the place
where the flames are burning becomes hot. When the gas is hot, the gas
molecules move faster so they are separated from each other. This causes the
hot gas to experience expansion (the volume increases). Because of the increase
in volume, the density of the gas decreases (becomes lighter). Meanwhile, air
gas around the fire (which is cooler) has a larger (heavier) density. As a
result, the hot gas of the fire flame moves up (there is a floating effect). When the
hot gas of the flame rises, the cooler air around it fills up the void. Even
the air is burning and forming a fire so that it moves back up. So on.
If we analyze further, heavy cold air can move down to
replace the position of the gas flame because the cold air is pulled by the
force of gravity. So, we can say that the direction of the flame is always
opposite to the direction of gravity.
A further question arises, can we light candles in space? The
answer is not able, because fire is formed from the oxidation process so there
must be oxygen. In space there is no oxygen so fire cannot occur. If we bring a
tube of oxygen into space, then we can light a candle there. When the candle
has been lit in a tube, where does the flame go? The flame will lead to the
opposite direction of gravity. If gravity is pointing to the right, then the
fire is pointing left. If gravity is pointing upwards, the fire is pointing
downwards. If the candle was ignited in a place that was free of gravity, the
fire would point in all directions at random.