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Fire is the heat and light that comes from burning substances.
In 1777, Antoine Lavoisier, a French chemist, proved that burning is the result of the rapid union of oxygen with other substances. As a substance burns, heat and light are produced. Burning is also called combustion. Often oxygen unites with other substances at such a slow rate that little heat and no light are given off. When this happens, we call the process oxidation, rather than burning or combustion.