The Iowa plain dealer. [volume] (New Oregon, Howard County, Iowa) 1867-1895, 1870-03-18
Lighting the Fire.

could explain the reasons ef the op.
erations they perform, or the appear
anccs thcy perceive in the stove,
CRATE, or fireplace. \ very simple
yet interesting little lecture could be
made about lighting the fire. Let us
see, madam. whether we can not tell
you some things that you will be glad
, to know. r.. F -
You have before you in the CRATE
a newspaper, loosely erumpled, upon
which are few splinters Of pine,
and upon these some larger sticks -
In your hand is lucifers match. You
mean to ignite the end Of the match,
and set FIRE to the paper, which will
set fire to the splinters, which will
set fire to the wood. Then you will
put on the blower, and when the whole
is in a roaring flame, you will add
coal, which will form the other end
Of the series of combustibles begun
by the chemical substance forming a
little knob on the end of " ur match.
Quite complex matter, ism It it?' 1t
reminds one Of tho nurscy legend, IN
which ''the rope began to hang the
butcher, the butcher began to kill
the OK" "ctc., etc. until finally ''the
kid hogan to 90! which was all the
old woma n wanted. = No offence to
you. madam, by this comparisop!)
When your little girl asked you tie
other day why you needed to use
matches, and kindling, and blower,
and all that, you told her not to be
silly, but to use her eyes. and she
would find out; but you felt little
ashamed to reflect that you didn't
know yourself Now, in this private
matter, SO as not to wound your feel
ings, we propose to tell you that,
and more too.
Burning is chemical process; that
is, it changes not merely the forms
but the elements of the substances
involved One of these is invariably
the oxygen Of the air. This invisi-
bic atmosphere which we breathe con
sists principally Of two gasee, mixed
together. One is oxygen, and the
other nitrogen. II you could sepa-
rate them, and measure them in quart
dippers, you would find about quart
Of oxygen for every gallon of nitro
gen. Tkis oxygen unites with a great
many elements, forming what we call
oxides and acids
The other substance necessary to
combustion is called the fuel, and
must contain one or more of those
elements with which oxygen can
unite. Ordinary fuels contain two
such Observation-Disclosures and car
bon--at least, paper end wood and
soft coal do. Charcoal and anthrac-
ite are nearly pure carbon, all but
the ashes. \ good many other things
will burn. however. Iron, for in-
stance, burns like tinder, if it is ig-
nited in pure oxygen; though in this
diluted oxygen of the atmosphere, it
burns quite slowly. Still, your CRATE
bars do burn up, you know, in the
course of time. and would do so
much faster, if you did not keep up
a supply of other fuel which the oxy-
gen in the air, and that it Will not
readily unite With most substances,
except at higher than ordinary tenn
peratures; otherwise we should all be
carried off by that ugly and incurable
disease, spontaneous combustion.
Now, every substance has its own
particular temperature at which it
will unite rapidly with oxygen. Phos-
phorus isn't long about it, | tell you.
just the little heat you get up by
friction on the end Of your match
wakes up the phosphorus, As for
paper and wood. they are composed
Of the same substances, and one would
think they ought to burn equally we'll
But here another point must be con-
siJered. Paper burns more easily
than wood, because 1t is more fragile
in texture, and hence its component
parts are more easily heated to the
required point. For the same rea-
sou, splintcrs and shavings kurn bet
ter than sticks; aud, indeed, thln
shayings burn better than paper, if
the latter has had printing-ink and
other substances spread over it. Sol
id Jumps Of coal are still harder to
heat to the burning point. If you
should try te get ono aburning by ap-
plying to the corner of it one match
after another, you would find the rest
Of tn, lump drawing away the heat
as fast as you could supply it. You
therefore put paper or shavings at
the bottom, to catch fro readily
Then you lay wood above them. bo-
cause, being more substantial, it will
burn longer, and therefore afford a
longer contact of fame to heat the
coal. AS you know very we'll. the
paper would not DO without the wood ,
nor the solid wood without paper or
shavings. .ssz g
But this union of oxygen and fuel
which we call combustion, although
it requires heat before it will taks
place, produces more heat when it
does take place. Otherwise. you
see. your ingenious little arrange
ment Of materials would not work.
You get up small amount Of heat
by friction, which starts the combus
tion Of the phosphorus on your match
That combustion produces MI amount
Of heat sufficient to set the body ol
the match on fire. TLis&mouut i,