Does fire burn in a vacuum?
The term "vacuum" comes from Latin and means something like "empty". So it means a vacuum, but does a fire burn in such a vacuum?
In order to know whether there is a fire, the fire in a vacuum, it should first be clarified how exactly the air void is defined.
What is a vacuum
A vacuum is created when all the air is sucked out of a container. However, science is not aware of a perfect vacuum because particles or antiparticles are constantly being created.
- Even in space there is no perfect vacuum, it is just a vacuum with a very low pressure. In the vicinity of the planets there are enormous amounts of tiny particles, which speaks against a vacuum, but rather stands for weightlessness.
- Tests were carried out with candles in space and they burned for a surprisingly long time. However, not in the familiar form in which the flame stretches upwards, but the flame appeared round the wick.
Is there a fire burning in a vacuum?
Fire absolutely needs two things in order to let its flames lick: a fuel, for example wood or coal, and an oxidizing agent, namely oxygen, for example. Of course, there is also lighting, the ignition temperature of the fuel must be exceeded, only then can flames flicker.
In order to start a fire, oxygen is absolutely necessary, as this gas is part of the ...
- It is well known that there is no oxidizing agent in a vacuum, which is why a fire either does not burn at all or only burns briefly. However, since there is no such thing as a complete vacuum, experiments succeed again and again in which something is still burning in a vacuum. Ultimately, the particles will burn, and when the flame has burned the oxygen it will go out.
- If there were a perfect vacuum, nothing would burn. In this room there would be nothing, not even the smallest atom, no gas, no air - simply nothing. So there is no fire burning in a vacuum.
