

If fire removes protective vegetation, heavy rainfall may lead to an increase in soil erosion by water. The negative effects of fire include hazard to life and property, atmospheric pollution, and water contamination. The positive effects of fire include stimulating growth and maintaining various ecological systems. Fire is an important process that affects ecological systems around the globe. Depending on the substances alight, and any impurities outside, the color of the flame and the fire's intensity will be different.įire in its most common form can result in conflagration, which has the potential to cause physical damage through burning. If hot enough, the gases may become ionized to produce plasma. Flames consist primarily of carbon dioxide, water vapor, oxygen and nitrogen. The flame is the visible portion of the fire. At a certain point in the combustion reaction, called the ignition point, flames are produced. Slower oxidative processes like rusting or digestion are not included by this definition.įire is hot because conversion of the weak double bond in molecular oxygen, O2, to the stronger bonds in the combustion products carbon dioxide and water releases energy (418 kJ per 32 g of O2) the bond energies of the fuel play only a minor role here. Fire is the rapid oxidation of a material in the exothermic chemical process of combustion, releasing heat, light, and various reaction products.
