Fire
From Taimapedia
Fire is the rapid oxidation of a combustible material releasing light, heat, and other stuff (like smoke, ash, and gases). Fire is an extremely low grade plasma. It is unsuitable for conduction electricity. Fire can be used for many reasons, such as to cook or burn plant matter for smoking.
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[edit] Common Sources of Fire
Fire can usually be obtained by using a lighter, sparker, matches, lens, or flint & steel. Fire can also be found in some stove ranges, grills, heaters, and ovens, specifically near the pilot light of the house, though it is inadvisable to tamper or experiment with these fire sources for anything other than their intended purpose (usually cooking).
Most primitive humans can make fire with pretty much anything that comes to hand. Most modern, city dwelling humans can't without matches or a lighter. We call this "progress".
[edit] Chemistry
Fire occurs whenever any chemical reaction that fulfills the "Fire Tetrahedron" occurs. The fire tetrahedron is graph representation of the requirements for fire to occur; these requirements are oxygen, heat, fuel, and a chain reaction. The tetrahedron is commonly represented as a 4 sided pyramid (the base, 3 walls). This graphic representation of how fire works also helps explains how to put out a fire, for example, putting water on a fire removes heat from the fire faster than the fire can produce it, fire blankets and extinguishers work by smothering the fire or dousing it in carbon dioxide which starves the fire of oxygen, firefighters often start small, controlled fires when battling large forest fires to isolate the forest fires from new fuel, and most other ways to put out fires focus on disrupting the chemical reaction.
[edit] Mythology
Humans have long told stories about fire. Most mythological stories follow the "Prometheus" story line. The story of Prometheus is Greek mythology.
[edit] Prometheus
Long ago, when man was naught more than a common beast, the Gods (having only recently overthrown their parents the Titans) sat atop Mount Olympus and laughed at the impotence of man among the beasts. You see, one of the defeated Titans named Epimetheus (which means afterthought) was assigned the job of giving all the beasts sharp teeth or long claws or great strength, but Epimetheus was so foolishly generous with the beasts that by the time he got to mankind, there was nothing left. So man was left naked and weak and defenseless against the beasts of the world. But Epimetheus had a Titan brother named Prometheus (which means forethought) who saw what man could become, and took pity on him. Prometheus knew that the one thing that kept man at the mercy of the beasts was his lack of knowledge, and that if man could have the fire so jealously held by Zeus, man could learn. So Prometheus stole away in the middle of the night, taking with him a burning fennel stalk and gave it to the men he encountered. When morning came and the Gods learned of Prometheus' treachery, Zeus forever condemned Prometheus to be chained to a giant rock, where a giant eagle would rip open his chest and eat Prometheus' liver. Due to being a Titan, he regenerates every night, only to face the same torment every day for all eternity for giving man the gift of fire (he was later released by Hercules during his trials).
