Why Is Fire Hot?

Hold a marshmallow over the flame, Whoosh! It puffs! Up in flame! Touch the air above the fire, ow! Fire is hot, but tell me how?

Fire needs three things, count with me! Fuel, and oxygen, and heat, that's three! Take away one and the flames go out! That's what fire is all about!

Fuel! Oxygen! Heat! Fire needs all three, that's neat! Fuel! Oxygen! Heat! Take one away, and the fire's out!

The wood was full of stored-up power, From sunlight soaked up hour by hour! A tree drank sun, year after year, And packed the sunshine's energy right here!

When wood and oxygen finally meet, The atoms swap partners everywhere! The stored-up energy rushes out, That's the heat you feel, no doubt!

Fuel! Oxygen! Heat! Fire needs all three, that's neat! Fuel! Oxygen! Heat! Take one away, and the fire's out!

Try a candle in a glass jar, The flame burns bright, you watch from afar! But oxygen runs low, low, low, And the candle gives a sleepy glow, Then poof, it's out! No air, no flame! Take away one corner of the triangle! A blanket smothers fire the same, No oxygen, no fire to claim!

How do we know? How do we know? A long, long time ago in France, just so, Antoine Lavoisier sealed a jar, And Marie-Anne wrote down every gram so far!

Before they burned the stuff inside, they weighed, Sealed up tight so nothing could stray, After it burned, the same mass stayed! The atoms didn't go away, They joined the air, still there to stay!

Nothing vanished, nothing made new, Fire was a trade, and the scale proved it true! Wood plus air made smoke and ash, Same atoms, just a wilder dance!

Fuel! Oxygen! Heat! Fire needs all three, that's neat! Fuel! Oxygen! Heat! Take one away, and the fire's out!

So the next time the campfire crackles bright, And you feel the heat and you see the light, That's sunlight the tree drank long ago, Warming your hands in a glowing glow!