Fire

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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

For other uses, see Fire (disambiguation).
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An outdoor wood fire
Duration: 15 seconds.0:15
The ignition and extinguishing of a pile of wood shavings

Fire is the rapid oxidation of a material (the fuel) in the exothermic chemical
process of combustion, releasing heat, light, and various reaction products.[1]
[a]
At a certain point in the combustion reaction, called the ignition point, flames
are produced. The flame is the visible portion of the fire. Flames consist
primarily of carbon dioxide, water vapor, oxygen and nitrogen. If hot enough,
the gases may become ionized to produce plasma.[2] Depending on the
substances alight, and any impurities outside, the color of the flame and the
fire's intensity will be different.[3]

Fire, in its most common form, has the potential to result in conflagration,
which can lead to physical damage, which can be permanent,
through burning. Fire is a significant process that influences ecological
systems worldwide. The positive effects of fire include stimulating growth and
maintaining various ecological systems. Its negative effects include hazard to
life and property, atmospheric pollution, and water contamination.[4] When fire
removes protective vegetation, heavy rainfall can contribute to increased soil
erosion by water.[5] Additionally, the burning of vegetation
releases nitrogen into the atmosphere, unlike elements such
as potassium and phosphorus which remain in the ash and are quickly
recycled into the soil.[6][7] This loss of nitrogen caused by a fire produces a long-
term reduction in the fertility of the soil, which can be recovered as
atmospheric nitrogen is fixed and converted to ammonia by natural
phenomena such as lightning or by leguminous plants such as clover, peas,
and green beans.

Fire is one of the four classical elements and has been used by humans
in rituals, in agriculture for clearing land, for cooking, generating heat and
light, for signaling, propulsion purposes, smelting, forging, incineration of
waste, cremation, and as a weapon or mode of destruction.
Etymology
The word "fire" originated from Old English Fyr 'Fire, a fire', which can be
traced back to the Germanic root *fūr-, which itself comes from the Proto-
Indo-European *perjos from the root *paewr- 'fire'. The current spelling of "fire"
has been in use since as early as 1200, but it was not until around 1600 that it
completely replaced the Middle English term fier (which is still preserved in
the word "fiery").[8]

History
Fossil record
Main article: Fossil record of fire

The fossil record of fire first appears with the establishment of a land-based
flora in the Middle Ordovician period, 470 million years ago,[9] permitting the
accumulation of oxygen in the atmosphere as never before, as the new
hordes of land plants pumped it out as a waste product. When this
concentration rose above 13%, it permitted the possibility of wildfire.[10] Wildfire
is first recorded in the Late Silurian fossil record, 420 million years ago, by
fossils of charcoalified plants.[11][12] Apart from a controversial gap in the Late
Devonian, charcoal is present ever since.[12] The level of atmospheric oxygen
is closely related to the prevalence of charcoal: clearly oxygen is the key
factor in the abundance of wildfire.[13] Fire also became more abundant when
grasses radiated and became the dominant component of many ecosystems,
around 6 to 7 million years ago;[14] this kindling provided tinder which allowed
for the more rapid spread of fire.[13] These widespread fires may have initiated
a positive feedback process, whereby they produced a warmer, drier climate
more conducive to fire.[13]
Human control of fire
Early human control

Main article: Control of fire by early humans

 Bushman starting a fire in Namibia

The ability to control fire was a dramatic change in the habits of early humans.
[15]
Making fire to generate heat and light made it possible for people
to cook food, simultaneously increasing the variety and availability of nutrients
and reducing disease by killing pathogenic microorganisms in the food.[16] The
heat produced would also help people stay warm in cold weather, enabling
them to live in cooler climates. Fire also kept nocturnal predators at bay.
Evidence of occasional cooked food is found from 1 million years ago.
[17]
Although this evidence shows that fire may have been used in a controlled
fashion about 1 million years ago,[18][19] other sources put the date of regular use
at 400,000 years ago.[20] Evidence becomes widespread around 50 to 100
thousand years ago, suggesting regular use from this time; interestingly,
resistance to air pollution started to evolve in human populations at a similar
point in time.[20] The use of fire became progressively more sophisticated, as it
was used to create charcoal and to control wildlife from tens of thousands of
years ago.[20]

Fire has also been used for centuries as a method of torture and execution,
as evidenced by death by burning as well as torture devices such as the iron
boot, which could be filled with water, oil, or even lead and then heated over
an open fire to the agony of the wearer.

Here, food is cooked in a cauldron above fire

in South Africa.
By the Neolithic Revolution, during the introduction of grain-based agriculture,
people all over the world used fire as a tool in landscape management. These
fires were typically controlled burns or "cool fires", as opp

Taxonomy

The scientific name Felis catus was proposed by Carl Linnaeus in 1758 for a domestic
cat.[1][2] Felis catus domesticus was proposed by Johann Christian Polycarp Erxleben in
1777.[3] Felis daemon proposed by Konstantin Satunin in 1904 was a black cat from
the Transcaucasus, later identified as a domestic cat.[17][18]

In 2003, the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature ruled that the

domestic cat is a distinct species, namely Felis catus.[19][20] In 2007, the modern
domesticated subspecies F. silvestris catus sampled worldwide was considered to have
likely descended from the Near Eastern wildcat (F. lybica) following results
of phylogenetic research.[21][22][a] In 2017, the IUCN Cat Classification Taskforce followed
the recommendation of the ICZN in regarding the domestic cat as a distinct
species, Felis catus.[23]

Evolution
Main article: Cat evolution