Fire is a chemical reaction called combustion that gives off light and heat. It is an example of the chemical process. At a certain point in the combustion reaction, called the ignition point, flames are produced. Flames consist primarily of carbon dioxide, water vapor, oxygen, and nitrogen. Fire is useful, but also very dangerous because it can cause houses, trees and many other things to burn into ashes.

Fire is one of the most important forces in human history. Fire can destroy your house and all of your possessions in less than an hour, and it can reduce an entire forest to a pile of ash and charred wood.

Fire provided a source of warmth, protection from predators, a way to create more advanced hunting tools, and a method for cooking food. These cultural advances allowed human geographic dispersal, cultural innovations, and changes to diet and behavior.

Fire can purify water, cook food, signal rescuers, provide warmth, light and comfort, help keep predators at a distance, and can be a most welcome friend and companion. As a survival technique, it is one that is essential. … A few small fires provide more heat than one large fire.

Colored fire is a common pyrotechnic effect used in stage productions, fireworks and by fire performers the world over. Generally, the color of a flame may be redorange, blue, yellow, or white, and is dominated by blackbody radiation from soot and steam. The colder part of a diffusion (incomplete combustion) flame will be red, transitioning to orangeyellow, and white as the temperature increases as evidenced by changes in the black-body radiation spectrum. For a given flame’s region, the closer to white on this scale, the hotter that section of the flame is.