Article
Article
Combustion
Article By:
Béer, János M. Department of Chemical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Last reviewed:December 2018
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1036/1097-8542.150600
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The burning of any substance, in gaseous, liquid, or solid form. In its broad definition, combustion includes fast exothermic chemical reactions, generally in the gas phase but not excluding the reaction of solid carbon with a gaseous oxidant. Flames represent combustion reactions that can propagate through space at subsonic velocity and are accompanied by the emission of light. The flame is the result of complex interactions of chemical and physical processes whose quantitative description must draw on a wide range of disciplines, such as chemistry, thermodynamics, fluid dynamics, and molecular physics. During the chemical reaction, energy is released in the form of heat, and atoms and free radicals, the highly reactive intermediates of the combustion reactions, are generated. See also: Flame; Free radical; Heat; Oxidizing agent; Reactive intermediates
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