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
Tag: combustion
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
Explosive Flame Fronts
Though they look like jellyfish or space creatures, these images from photographer Linden Gledhill are actually explosions. What you’re seeing is the detonation of hydrogen gas with oxygen. The teal Keep reading
Catching Fire
Citrus fruits like oranges house tiny pockets of oil in their peels. When squeezed, the oils jet out in tiny micro-jets that are about the width of a human hair. Keep reading
Experimenting with Speakers
In her ongoing quest to explore natural resonance, Dianna has enlisted some very nice, very expensive speakers to find out just what happens when the bass drops. If you ever Keep reading
Fiery Backdraft
Combustion is ultimately a chemical reaction, and like any chemical reaction, it requires the right balance of ingredients. The only way to completely exhaust the reaction is to have the Keep reading
The Beauty of Flames
The flickering yellow and orange flames most of us are used to thinking of are rather different from the flames researchers study. In this video, the Beauty of Science team Keep reading
Patterns of Flame
In nature, the way a system behaves often depends on multiple competing factors. This is particularly apparent for chemical reactions, some of of which can oscillate in wild patterns as Keep reading