Whether it's in the form of burning tobacco or a raging
forest fire, combustion is merely some material rapidly
combining with oxygen. Well, maybe that's stating it too
simply. Combustion turns out to be a complex interaction
between molecules—even the burning of a simple
five-atom molecule can involve more than 100 individual
chemical reactions. And if you take a look at the burning of
organic matter such as tobacco and wood, which contain long
molecules of intricately arranged atoms, the interactions
are substantially more involved.
This feature lets you explore the basics of combustion,
including how a fire ignites, how a molecule's atoms
rearrange themselves during combustion, and what a flame is
made of.
