Who knows why water can burn?!

Mind you, it CAN burn, without adding any other liquid to it. I saw it happen today with my own eyes in chemistry...
[This message was edited Wed Jan 8 15:05:09 PST 2003 by BattierBeMyDaddy]

It's best to ask the teacher questions while your in class. But I'd say that anything will burn if it gets hot enough.

BattierBeMyDaddy said:

Yeah I know, boiling water can hurt like hell. It can leave a very nasty burn.

Rumpofsteelskin said:

Well, dear, the assignment was to:

A) Go home and try to reproduce the demo for ourselves, based only on the observations we made, with no instruction.
B) Form an educated reason as to why it burns. It obviously has something to do with the phosphorus (or perhaps something else) found in a match head.

and BKW, I'm not talking about getting burned by water. But actually setting water on fire!

BattierBeMyDaddy said:

That's just crazy talk!

bkw said:

Hush, Aussie.

Not to worry baby gurl, you will get you answer shortly!

sag10 said:

Yeah. I'll get it! I've used nearly an entire box of matches..nearly 250 trying it.

:EVIL:

BattierBeMyDaddy said:

It is not going to work unless you conduct electrolysis... water is produced by burning hydrogen... in effect, it is an ash of sorts.

because there is oxygen in water

IceNine said:

I tried to tell her her answer would arrive.

XxAxX said:

Hmm... what would happen if she boiled the water down to nothing and then struck a match and lit that residue stuff that's left over?




.
[This message was edited Wed Jan 8 15:49:51 PST 2003 by AzureStar]

AzureStar said:

Nothing.

IceNine said:

Okay then... just curious. That stuff won't catch on fire, eh? It does when I make candles... well, that could be because I have wax mixed in with that stuff. Wax does catch on fire!

IceNine said:

No electrolysis was performed in class, Ice. I was there. I watched. The water went straight from the faucet at his lab desk, and into an Erlenmeyer flask.

As I've stated to you:

He got out a flask, after he did the whole disappearing penny thing...

An Erlenmeyer..He filled the flask right in front of us at a faucet. He got out a box of matches (the same kind I bought, because I observed the box) and he just lit it. And the water was on fire.

And it stayed on fire for a substantial amount of time.

Lleena said:

And in Lleena's tummy...

XxAxX said:

Oxygen only makes fire larger, it feeds the fire. Hydrogen is the flammable shit in water.

AzureStar said:

Correct.

sag10 said:

I have never passed gas in my entire life Sag...what is it like ?

Lleena said:

ahhh!

Ok, what you need to do is this: strike a match, and catch the match on fire...then, you touch the flame to the water...and voila, you're burning water...

Ok, scratch that...I just tried it and the match went out...damn..

Lleena said:

[picturing Lleena puffed up like a balloon]

XxAxX said:

Here is a guess...

Hydrogen and oxygen when combined in appropriate mixture will burn to form water..does that make sense...

The tip of the matchstick contains Potassium, which reacts violently with water, therefore when he lit the match, and touched the water, I'm guessing that a piece breaks off - from hot meeting cold - and remains reacting to the water, until it's burned itself off.






[This message was edited Wed Jan 8 16:32:57 PST 2003 by LaVisHh]

Perhaps some sort of grease or oil was at the bottom of the flask, and then, when he filled it with water, it rose to the top. So that's what he in actuality was burning?

I dunno, seems very odd.

BattierBeMyDaddy said:

Have you considered the possibility that he is a witch?

lovemachine said:

Burn him!!!