Welcome to Double Helix magazine’s Q&A section – Microscope. We take a close look at small questions full of big ideas.
Q: I want to know which is hotter, fire or lava? Or are they both the same?
Double Helix reader, Mical from New South Wales
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,Welcome to Double Helix magazine’s Q&A section – Microscope. We take a close look at small questions full of big ideas.
Q: I want to know which is hotter, fire or lava? Or are they both the same?
Double Helix reader, Mical from New South Wales
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Nice
We all know that fire is about 600-800 degrees Celsius, and lava was 700-1200 Celsius and of course lava would be hotter than fire. But my question is that will lava MELT fire? If those information was added, I think this is a good piece of information.
Thanks.
Hi Mr Wu,
I don’t think fire can melt – it’s not a solid!
So who is the hotter?
TLDR: The hot bit of a candle flame is usually hotter than lava coming out of a volcano. But lava is more dangerous to touch than a candle flame.
By far one of the most stupid questions I have heard. Everybody knows that fire is the one that melts stuff. Not the one that gets melted. The temperature of the fire depends on its fuel. So quit blaming it for being so cold. If you replace wood with Dicyanoacetylene, the temperature of the fire will shoot up from a weak 1000 degrees to a Jesus-Christ-that’s-hot 4990 degrees celsius. Make the ozone as the oxidizer and boom! 5,730 °C. Lava is technically a fuel too. It’s just a liquid rock that is burning. You can see lava flowing and some parts of it are obviously on fire. And also, put some stones into a gas torch furnace. Wait for a little bit and then you have lava. You can never expect lava to be hotter than it is due to the fact that IT IS ACTUALLY A SUBSTANCE THAT JUST GOT MELTED. Which means it is not technically generating heat. It’s just conducting it. Fire on the other hand has no limits to how hot it can get as long as you have the right fuel. If you melt candle wax and touch it as soon as you take away the fire, you will actually burn your hand. The same goes for lava. It’s like a melting wax down there inside earth and when it comes out, it would temporarily still have it’s heat but will quickly lose it. Because unlike fire and just like a melted candle wax, it does not generate heat. Lava=Melted substances that are on a bigger scale.
no way so Mr 3 > Akainu
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