this post was submitted on 07 Aug 2023
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Showerthoughts

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You can't burn water, because it's already burnt (lemmy.ml)
submitted 1 year ago by arcrust@lemmy.ml to c/showerthoughts@lemmy.world
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Fire is the rapid oxidation of a material. Water is 2 hydrogen and 1 oxygen. Every molecule is fully oxidized. It's also a common byproduct of fire. Therefore, you can't burn it, because it's already burnt

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[–] Neato@kbin.social 7 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Ah so it's hot enough to electrolyze water and then when the hydrogen and oxygen gas move out of that heat zone, they're still in a hot enough area to re-oxidize into water, burning the hydrogen. Neat.

[–] wheeldawg@sh.itjust.works 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Nothing about this makes sense. Is it reoxidizing or burning?

[–] Fordiman@programming.dev 6 points 1 year ago

Yes.

Not only will metal fires break apart the water into oxygen and hydrogen, but they will consume the oxygen, as the metal oxide is a more stable energy state than is water. So you end up with a billow of hydrogen coming off the fire that mixes with the oxygen just above (because lighter gases rise) the oxygen-depleted zone of the fire, and it combusts there.