The concept of the fire triangle teaches us that fire requires three elements for its basic development: heat, fuel, and oxygen. Its propagation demands a fourth element (the chain reaction), but the good news is that if you eliminate one of them, the fire goes out. Water is excellent at absorbing fire's heat... however, under the right conditions it can do things that seem contradictory, like lighting a match or burning paper. Want to see?
Now, if you think of a stream of hot water from the tap, no. Water in that state doesn't work for an experiment like this. In fact, the liquid must be much hotter, greatly exceeding its boiling point. The key is none other than superheated steam. This type of steam is relatively easy to produce as long as you have access to a couple of tools.
Three simple steps
- The first step is to boil water and create normal steam.
- The second step is to get that steam to escape through a copper tube coiled like a cooling coil.
- Finally, you need to bring a lit blowtorch close to the copper tube.
If the superheated steam reaches the minimum required temperature, any match will ignite upon contact. Something similar will happen with pieces of paper, though most likely it will burn them directly.
The most popular forms of plastic cannot resist superheated steam, and it will easily melt them. The video also highlights the reaction of copper to the blowtorch. Its surface turns black, when in reality we expect a color close to green.
That color appears much later, courtesy of a reaction between copper, carbon dioxide in the air, and sulfur. The final result of the reaction is the classic blue-green, associated with a mineral known as malachite.
You definitely should be careful if you decide to reproduce this experiment at home. Superheated steam demands respect, and any accidental contact guarantees an emergency visit to the hospital.
