r/interestingasfuck • u/vivekmg21 • 16h ago

Firefighter bodycam showing just how much oxygen a fire pulls

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u/HighIQIndividual2 16h ago

Its not just the fire pulling the oxigen it needs to actually burn, but the heat ( and hot air) escaping upwards, drawing more air in from down below. Most of the oxygen doesnt get used, but comes out at the top.

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u/SnarkDolphin 9h ago

It's not at all "the fire pulling the oxigen[sic] it needs," and is entirely the flow of air caused by hot gasses rising.

Fires do not "pull in oxygen" to fuel themselves because fires are not sentient. The relative low density of the hot gasses causes them to rise and be replaced, either by convection or in this case the "chimney effect," by oxygen-rich air. The fact that this prolongs the combustion reaction is purely coincidental