Wildfires are growing ever more frequent and more destructive as the climate crisis worsens. Unfortunately, simulating and predicting the course of these fires is incredibly difficult, requiring a combination of Keep reading
Tag: combustion
A Colorful Fire Tornado
This one definitely belongs in the do-not-try-this-yourself category, but this Slow Mo Guys video of a colorful fire tornado is pretty spectacular. Using an array of different fuels and a Keep reading
Making Horsehair Pottery
Native American potter Eric Louis combines traditional and modern techniques in his horsehair pottery. Like his mother and grandmother before him, he collects local clay and pottery shards to make Keep reading
Cleaning Up Combustion
In space, flames behave quite differently than we’re used to on Earth. Without gravity, flames are spherical; there are no hot gases rising to create a teardrop-shaped, flickering flame. In Keep reading
Slow Mo Pulse Jet Engine
Pulse jet engines rely on their shape to maintain combustion without moving parts. The pressure waves that travel through the engine pump fresh oxygen into the combustion chamber and then Keep reading
The Structure of the Blue Whirl
Several years ago, researchers discovered a new type of flame, the blue whirl. Now computational simulations have helped them untangle the complex structure of this clean-burning flame. Their work shows Keep reading
Fractal Flame Propagation
Hydrogen is a promising alternative to carbon-based fuels, but it comes with its own special challenges. Hydrogen gas is extremely flammable, including under circumstances that would normally quench flames, as Keep reading
Inside the Fire Lab
Fire plays an important role in nature, one with which humanity must live without controlling fully. After several disastrous historic wildfires in the American West, the U.S. Forest Service established Keep reading
Understanding Wildfire
Wildfires are an ongoing challenge in the western United States, where droughts and warmer conditions have combined with a century of fire suppression to form perfect conditions for monstrous fires. It’s Keep reading
Streaming Fire
I’m just going to start this one with a blanket statement: DO NOT TRY THIS. Instead, enjoy the fact that the Internet enables us to enjoy the sight of burning gasoline in Keep reading