The Chemistry Behind Fire

Added: 2026-05-06

[00:00:00]Fire isn't a thing you can hold. It's atoms rearranging fast enough to glow.

[00:00:06]You strike a spark against the wood. At first, it only warms the grain. The heat begins to break the bonds and turn the solid wood to gas. Unseen.

[00:00:19]Carbon monoxide drifts away. Hydrogen and methane start to stray. They mix with oxygen in air, but only burn when hot enough there. Their bonds break down and join a new, making water vapor carbon dioxide, too. And when those stronger bonds are made, they cast off energy as heat and flame. The flame makes steep and splits the wood, releasing more of this invisible fuel.

[00:00:52]What's left behind when gases go as carbon left is embers red that glow. And when the fire has spent its whole just remains from what won't burn as cold.

[00:01:08]The woods not shining as it goes. It's atoms turning into flame that glows.