Timeline for Starting a fire in a cold planet that was full of flammable gas
Current License: CC BY-SA 4.0
19 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
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| Oct 25, 2019 at 1:22 | comment | added | draw134 | Thank you for your answers sirs !! | |
| Oct 25, 2019 at 1:19 | comment | added | Mazura | Ammonia, methane and hydrogen are flammable gasses, but combustion (fire, aka: oxidation) requires fuel and an oxidizer. That's why the candle goes out when you put the lid on; it quickly uses up all the remaining oxidizer (oxygen), while there's plenty of fuel left (wax). - The fuel must be vaporized (or hot enough to vaporize) or be a gas : "In this [gaseous] state they can then readily react with oxygen in the air, which gives off enough heat in the subsequent exothermic reaction to vaporize yet more fuel, thus sustaining a consistent flame." | |
| Oct 24, 2019 at 4:12 | comment | added | Max0815 | This has been asked in Worldbuilding StackExchange, but nevertheless i believe valuable here too. | |
| Oct 21, 2019 at 20:59 | comment | added | Eric Lippert | You might consider reading up on the chemistry of reduction/oxidation reactions. Burning is oxidation, and oxidation by definition requires that you move some electrons around. Moving electrons implies that they start somewhere and then end up somewhere else. So the thing to figure out when you're trying to burn a big pile of hydrogen is: where are the necessary electrons coming from? On Earth when we burn hydrogen the electrons come along with the oxygen, but there is no oxygen on Neptune. | |
| Oct 21, 2019 at 16:00 | review | Close votes | |||
| Oct 24, 2019 at 4:13 | |||||
| Oct 21, 2019 at 15:44 | comment | added | Carl Witthoft | There's a nice Asimov's Mysteries story about this situation. Anyway, the point is that you can't get flame aka oxidation without two agents -- not to mention that you can't "throw fire" -- you can only throw energy in the form of hot reagents or photons. | |
| Oct 21, 2019 at 15:09 | comment | added | James | Besides the good answer you have, I'll add that if a planet did contain flammable gas AND an oxidizing agent then it would have already burned. For example, a small meteorite would act as the trigger. | |
| Oct 21, 2019 at 3:46 | comment | added | Rich | There are such things as monopropellants that burn (e.g. decompose exothermically) without a separate oxidiser - all the ones I can think of are liquids, require a catalyst, or both. You could have an atmosphere of FOOF, but it would need to be very cold... | |
| S Oct 21, 2019 at 2:02 | history | edited | Chappo Hasn't Forgotten | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
fixes to title and text - improved the English expression
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| S Oct 21, 2019 at 2:02 | history | suggested | Mark Rogers | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
fixes to title and text
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| Oct 20, 2019 at 18:49 | review | Suggested edits | |||
| S Oct 21, 2019 at 2:02 | |||||
| Oct 20, 2019 at 18:00 | history | tweeted | twitter.com/StackAstronomy/status/1185979143038652416 | ||
| Oct 20, 2019 at 2:34 | history | became hot network question | |||
| Oct 20, 2019 at 0:15 | comment | added | uhoh | @Vince your right, cryogenic, liquified ammonia has even been used as a fuel to fly the X-15 into space! But it also carried cryogenic, liquified oxygen (LOX) as well, and that's the basis of JamesK's answer. The chemical process of oxidation (burning) doesn't require actual oxygen, but it does require some oxidizing agent, and oxygen is a relatively good one. Put a small glass jar over a candle and it burns for a few seconds then goes out. Why? no fresh supply of oxidizer. | |
| Oct 19, 2019 at 19:22 | vote | accept | draw134 | ||
| Oct 19, 2019 at 19:21 | answer | added | James K | timeline score: 29 | |
| Oct 19, 2019 at 19:16 | comment | added | draw134 | what do you mean by that sir? Can you explain to me in the answer? And as far as i know ammonia and methane and hydrogen are flamamble | |
| Oct 19, 2019 at 18:45 | comment | added | BillDOe | Most likely the flame would be extinguished due a lack of oxidizing agent. | |
| Oct 19, 2019 at 18:31 | history | asked | draw134 | CC BY-SA 4.0 |