Welcome to You Ask Andy

Michael Fo g age 8, of Ottawaq Ont., Canada, for his question:

WHY DOES A FIRE SMOKE?

In order to make a fire burns you must have a combination of three thins: fuel9 heat to ignite the fuel and air to make the fuel burn. And once the flame is leaping, you must use great care. Under control9 fire is a wonderful thin. But it can be most destructive if not kept under tight control.

When you strike a match and Produce fires you are first of all providing enough heat by friction to ignite the chemical tip of the match. Air then causes the flame to flare and the fire burns the matchstick.

Smoke is seen rising from a fire if there isn't the right amount of o ygen to burn all of the carbon in the fuel. If burning were complete, we could not see smoke or even hot gases rising from the fire.

Smoke is actually small, solid specks of unburned carbon (which we call soot) being carried away by the gases. If the fire were in your fireplace, some of the specks of carbon would cling to the chimney and make it black. The rest would rise, making specks of carbon visible and forming smoke.

In many large cities, and in some small industrial ones for that matter, smoke causes a serious problem. If fuel is not properly burned in the factories, the fire used for production of manufactured items can also produce smoke. In the air, it can pollute and cause many problems to the health and welfare of people.

Smoke mi ed with fog is called smog. It's not a very nice thin. Smog can make thins dirty, choke our plants and trees and get into our lungs.

Imperfect burning causes smoke. A proper balance of the three thins necessary to make a fire  namely fuel, heat to ignite the fuel and air to make the fuel burn  can solve many smoke problems.

Have You ever left a smoking log in Your fireplace at night, only to discover in the morning that just a few ashes remain? Well, the log is made up of carbon and other elements. In the burning Process, carbon combines with o ygen to form carbon dio ide. Hydrogen combines with o ygen to form water vapor. These gases become Part of the air. The log contains minerals that do not burn, and these remain as ashes.

 

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