WEBVTT - Firestarter 0:00:04.240 --> 0:00:07.240 Welcome to tech Stuff, a production of I Heart Radios 0:00:07.320 --> 0:00:14.520 How Stuff Works. Hey there, and welcome to tex Stuff. 0:00:14.640 --> 0:00:17.759 I'm your host, Jonathan Strickland. I'm an executive producer with 0:00:17.840 --> 0:00:22.439 I Heart Radio and I love all things tech, and guys, 0:00:22.760 --> 0:00:26.440 it's time to get real. See. Sometimes when I'm thinking 0:00:26.480 --> 0:00:29.720 about what tech topic I should cover for my next episode, 0:00:29.840 --> 0:00:32.760 you know, I get really excited and inspired right away, 0:00:32.920 --> 0:00:36.040 and I just I'm off to the races. And sometimes 0:00:36.600 --> 0:00:39.279 I struggle for the better part of an hour at 0:00:39.320 --> 0:00:42.680 some days to figure out what I want to talk about, 0:00:42.880 --> 0:00:45.159 and and preferably I need to pick something that I 0:00:45.159 --> 0:00:48.960 haven't talked about a billion times before, which is tricky 0:00:49.000 --> 0:00:53.080 to do when you've got episodes. And sometimes I get 0:00:53.120 --> 0:00:57.360 an idea that I first dismiss as being totally stupid, 0:00:57.800 --> 0:01:00.640 but then I changed my mind and to side, I'm 0:01:00.680 --> 0:01:04.360 gonna do it anyway. And sometimes those days where I 0:01:04.360 --> 0:01:07.679 come up with the dumb idea happened to coincide with 0:01:07.720 --> 0:01:10.080 the days where I've been sitting for an hour desperate 0:01:10.120 --> 0:01:12.240 to come up with a topic. And so you see 0:01:12.240 --> 0:01:15.759 where this is going. This is why today we're going 0:01:15.800 --> 0:01:24.880 to talk about fire. Did somebody say fire no god. No. Um, 0:01:25.400 --> 0:01:33.240 ladies and gentlemen, I've been blessed with a special guest today. 0:01:33.400 --> 0:01:36.759 Would you please introduce herself to all these nice people. Well, 0:01:36.920 --> 0:01:41.120 I'm almona midler, and I'm a matchmaker that I didn't 0:01:41.200 --> 0:01:45.039 quite understand with matchmaking entailed, so I'm quite good at 0:01:45.040 --> 0:01:49.040 starting fires. Yes, so um, for those who do not know, 0:01:50.080 --> 0:01:55.040 I have a sordid history with the Georgia Renaissance Festival, 0:01:55.080 --> 0:01:59.800 and it was there, I believe where my path first 0:02:00.040 --> 0:02:03.720 crossed with that of Alamon as uh the village matchmaker. 0:02:04.280 --> 0:02:08.040 And um, I guess it's only fitting that for this 0:02:08.080 --> 0:02:14.280 episode I have a pyro enthusiast join us for the show. 0:02:14.440 --> 0:02:20.000 So Alamona, thank you for being here. Hey, thank you 0:02:20.040 --> 0:02:22.760 for having me. You look quite familiar. I can't quite 0:02:22.760 --> 0:02:25.720 put my match stick on it, but yeah, you see 0:02:25.720 --> 0:02:28.080 a lot of faces at the festival. I'm I'm sure 0:02:28.080 --> 0:02:29.400 there are a lot of I have one of those 0:02:29.440 --> 0:02:31.520 faces too, like you know, one of the ones that 0:02:31.560 --> 0:02:35.520 lots of people have. Um, because we let's get your 0:02:35.600 --> 0:02:39.320 Jonathan Strickland mask at the Tech stuff store today. No 0:02:39.400 --> 0:02:42.440 they're not really, They're okay, but we're gonna talk about 0:02:42.520 --> 0:02:47.840 stuff like matches, which I understand you consider yourself somewhat 0:02:47.880 --> 0:02:51.079 of an expert on which I find perplexing. I am 0:02:51.120 --> 0:02:55.000 an expert on matches. It's it's a little wooden stick thing, 0:02:55.320 --> 0:02:57.800 and then and then you you you you strike the 0:02:57.919 --> 0:02:59.720 end of it and and it in it, and then 0:02:59.720 --> 0:03:02.399 it goes boom, and then the pretty orange stuff comes out. 0:03:02.760 --> 0:03:05.320 It's very hot. It's odd to me that you would 0:03:05.400 --> 0:03:08.320 be so familiar with them, because the matches as you 0:03:08.400 --> 0:03:13.160 describe them weren't available until the early nineteenth century, and 0:03:13.400 --> 0:03:18.800 if my math is correct, the renaissances before times of 0:03:18.840 --> 0:03:22.760 the nineteenth century, my whole life has been a lie. 0:03:23.480 --> 0:03:26.560 Fair enough, all right, Well, Alimona, I'm glad you could 0:03:26.600 --> 0:03:29.320 be here because I'm going to explain to you the 0:03:29.440 --> 0:03:31.919 history of matches, and if you have things you want 0:03:31.960 --> 0:03:36.120 to say or questions you want to ask, then we can, 0:03:36.480 --> 0:03:38.640 you know, really focus on that. And there's sometimes where 0:03:38.640 --> 0:03:40.600 I'm going to ask you a question just to see 0:03:40.880 --> 0:03:43.839 what you know about things, and when we find out 0:03:43.880 --> 0:03:48.080 the depth of your ignorance, I will then illuminate by 0:03:48.600 --> 0:03:51.920 explaining exactly what the reality of the situation is. I 0:03:51.960 --> 0:03:54.520 really like the word illuminate, but I didn't quite like 0:03:54.600 --> 0:03:58.480 the word ignorance. I think the man explaining part of 0:03:58.520 --> 0:04:02.120 the episode is just be on. So we're gonna begin, 0:04:02.440 --> 0:04:04.360 as I said, with the history of matches. You know, 0:04:04.600 --> 0:04:08.120 you might think of it as the predecessor to the lighter. Uh, 0:04:08.600 --> 0:04:12.720 it's a lighter, lighter than what Okay, right, what's a heavier? 0:04:12.960 --> 0:04:15.840 Is there a heavier? No? Okay, this is this is 0:04:15.840 --> 0:04:19.320 how this is gonna go. U's a lighter thing that 0:04:19.400 --> 0:04:24.279 produces flame over and over and over again, and yeah, 0:04:24.400 --> 0:04:28.360 you would love them. And interesting thing is that the 0:04:28.400 --> 0:04:32.760 modern match and the modern lighter actually were developed around 0:04:32.760 --> 0:04:35.719 the same time. They were co developed at around the 0:04:35.720 --> 0:04:38.320 same time. We would normally think the matches must have 0:04:38.360 --> 0:04:42.200 come much earlier, but modern matches rely very heavily on 0:04:42.279 --> 0:04:47.599 something you and I completely lack chemistry. So we're gonna 0:04:47.640 --> 0:04:50.719 talk about that, but we're going to start with matches. 0:04:50.800 --> 0:04:54.320 And really, when we talk about matches, you gotta look 0:04:54.360 --> 0:04:58.240 all the way back to China, the country, not the 0:04:58.320 --> 0:05:01.520 type of dishes. I can see your mind working right 0:05:01.560 --> 0:05:04.000 in front of me, Alimona. I love the way China 0:05:04.120 --> 0:05:09.679 sounds when you break it. Yeah, So the country of China, Uh, 0:05:09.839 --> 0:05:15.320 they began to experiment using sticks dipped in sulfur. And 0:05:15.400 --> 0:05:17.239 this was not the type of match that you would 0:05:17.279 --> 0:05:21.320 strike against a surface and have it ignite. Instead, it 0:05:21.480 --> 0:05:25.400 was a way of lighting something and having it burn 0:05:25.520 --> 0:05:28.599 at a controlled rate so that you could transfer the 0:05:28.640 --> 0:05:32.360 fire from one place to another, for example, from say 0:05:32.520 --> 0:05:36.599 a roaring fire to a candle. You would want to 0:05:36.600 --> 0:05:39.400 be able to move that fire around. And as we 0:05:39.480 --> 0:05:42.880 all know, moving fire just with your hands is a 0:05:42.920 --> 0:05:48.760 bad idea because it's because it's hot, but it's very fun. Okay, 0:05:48.880 --> 0:05:51.240 all right, we're also going to stress to our listeners 0:05:51.600 --> 0:05:55.520 playing with fire is a dangerous thing once you get 0:05:55.520 --> 0:05:59.000 past the tingling sensation. Okay, all right now, Alamona, really 0:05:59.040 --> 0:06:02.680 let's let's reaf becus here. So those matches don't really 0:06:02.720 --> 0:06:07.479 fit our modern description of the word, and they would 0:06:07.520 --> 0:06:11.440 not really play into the type of strike matches that 0:06:11.520 --> 0:06:13.919 we think of when we hear the word match. So 0:06:14.000 --> 0:06:17.120 instead you have to go all the way up to 0:06:17.240 --> 0:06:20.920 the seventeenth century, so a bit late in the day 0:06:20.920 --> 0:06:25.240 for you, Alimona, an old woman diving, I might be 0:06:25.279 --> 0:06:30.159 as old as years old. That's interesting, Yeah, I guess 0:06:30.360 --> 0:06:34.520 you would definitely adhere to the philosophy. That's better to 0:06:34.600 --> 0:06:38.440 burn out than to fade away. Good one, thank you. 0:06:40.080 --> 0:06:44.440 So in the in the in the seventeenth century, there 0:06:44.720 --> 0:06:53.520 was this, uh, this German alchemist Hinnig Brandt, thank you. 0:06:54.200 --> 0:06:59.400 So he was attempting to do what many alchemists were 0:06:59.440 --> 0:07:01.560 trying to do. Oh, I know what an alchemist is. 0:07:01.560 --> 0:07:06.599 That's like a scientist, not really uh, predecessor to science. 0:07:06.600 --> 0:07:11.760 I would argue closer. I would argue closer to Professor 0:07:11.800 --> 0:07:15.960 Snape than a scientist. Yes, alchemy is all about the 0:07:16.000 --> 0:07:19.960 attempt to figure out ways to turn base metals or 0:07:20.040 --> 0:07:26.640 base materials into gold, which to this day perplexes me 0:07:27.320 --> 0:07:30.480 because alamono, just just follow along with me here. Alright, 0:07:30.520 --> 0:07:34.080 I'm going to explain to you the concept of supply 0:07:34.160 --> 0:07:37.640 and demand as well as that of value, right something 0:07:37.680 --> 0:07:42.080 I like, Oh boy, I'm glad I didn't say that. 0:07:42.160 --> 0:07:47.120 So gold people ascribe great value to gold. Right, gold 0:07:47.360 --> 0:07:51.120 is valuable. It lets you buy stuff. If you amass 0:07:51.160 --> 0:07:56.120 a lot of gold, you have wealth. Correct. Wealth concept 0:07:56.200 --> 0:07:59.480 foreign to me, but yes, yes, but you understand the 0:07:59.600 --> 0:08:02.360 idea of wealth, even though you may never have possessed 0:08:02.360 --> 0:08:07.520 it yourself. Right. So alchemists wanted to find a way 0:08:07.520 --> 0:08:11.480 to turn other types of stuff into gold. But if 0:08:11.520 --> 0:08:13.920 you could do that, if you could turn say lead 0:08:14.200 --> 0:08:18.360 into gold, then you would suddenly have a surplus of gold. 0:08:18.800 --> 0:08:21.160 And one of the things, in fact, the chief thing 0:08:21.240 --> 0:08:26.240 that makes gold valuable is its scarcity. So if you've 0:08:26.280 --> 0:08:29.880 taken something that was valuable because it was scarce, and 0:08:29.920 --> 0:08:32.640 you made a whole bunch more of it, what do 0:08:32.720 --> 0:08:39.240 you think happens lots and lots of money? Is that right? Okay? 0:08:39.920 --> 0:08:44.439 All right, so you're you're you're about a step behind me. No, 0:08:44.600 --> 0:08:46.040 if you have too much of it. If you have 0:08:46.080 --> 0:08:48.720 a lot of this gold that was valuable because of 0:08:48.720 --> 0:08:52.520 its scarcity, is no longer scarce, It is no longer valuable. Yes, 0:08:53.520 --> 0:08:55.280 it means that you would have way too much of it, 0:08:55.480 --> 0:09:01.120 And yeah, up until the point where you had a 0:09:01.120 --> 0:09:03.160 an abundance of gold on the market, in which case 0:09:03.160 --> 0:09:06.199 the value would plummet. So I never understood alchemy from 0:09:06.200 --> 0:09:10.360 that perspective. But um, let's get a dig a little deeper, 0:09:10.400 --> 0:09:14.079 because boy, it gets way more weird than that. So 0:09:15.040 --> 0:09:19.880 one of the important advancements that made matches possible was 0:09:19.920 --> 0:09:24.560 the discovery of phosphorus. So phosphorus is it's it's a 0:09:24.640 --> 0:09:28.840 naturally occurring element, but usually we wouldn't. It's usually bound 0:09:28.880 --> 0:09:31.920 up in other things. The less said about that, the 0:09:31.960 --> 0:09:34.560 better with you here, Almona. But it's bound up with 0:09:34.600 --> 0:09:37.640 other things, and then if we can refine it, then 0:09:37.679 --> 0:09:42.040 we can use it as a component in things like matches. 0:09:42.600 --> 0:09:49.440 So Hennig Brand discovered how to isolate phosphorus. That's not 0:09:49.480 --> 0:09:51.800 what he was trying to do, but it is what 0:09:51.920 --> 0:10:00.800 he effectively ended up doing. Ah, he isolated phosphorus from urine. Wow. Yeah, yeah, 0:10:00.840 --> 0:10:02.800 I thought I would blin inside you we're going to 0:10:02.920 --> 0:10:08.520 talk about pa science. Yeah, that's right. You get it 0:10:08.520 --> 0:10:13.760 all out there, Alonna. So are you saying that when 0:10:14.200 --> 0:10:17.360 when I use the privy, I'm sitting on a gold mine, 0:10:17.440 --> 0:10:20.600 or rather a phosphorus mine. Hinnig. Well, you're certainly sitting 0:10:20.600 --> 0:10:23.600 on a phosphorus mine, Hinnig Brand, But perhaps it was 0:10:23.640 --> 0:10:27.880 a gold mine. Here was his line of yeah, exactly, 0:10:28.200 --> 0:10:31.800 that's exactly what Brand was thinking. No, you're you're on 0:10:31.840 --> 0:10:35.480 the right track. He was sitting there thinking, you know what, 0:10:36.440 --> 0:10:40.920 he's kind of yellow. Gold's yellow. Maybe p is yellow 0:10:40.960 --> 0:10:44.440 because there's gold in them. The arp, so he thought 0:10:44.440 --> 0:10:48.120 how do I get the P away and keep the gold? 0:10:49.040 --> 0:10:52.760 Alchemist was so smart back then, I thought you'd think so. 0:10:52.760 --> 0:10:56.240 So here's what he did. Uh stop me. If you 0:10:56.360 --> 0:11:01.679 heard this before. He goes and collects a lot of P, 0:11:02.640 --> 0:11:04.040 go ahead and ask me how much is a lot 0:11:04.040 --> 0:11:08.320 of P? How much is a lot of gallons of 0:11:08.360 --> 0:11:11.599 the stuff? How many friends did he have? It was 0:11:11.760 --> 0:11:15.360 just a Super Bowl weekends. How many friends did he have? 0:11:15.600 --> 0:11:17.960 More fewer by the end of it than he did 0:11:18.000 --> 0:11:20.360 at the beginning of it. I'm sure that I realize 0:11:20.360 --> 0:11:22.400 how few friends I have. I don't know who I 0:11:22.440 --> 0:11:25.280 could just walk up to and say, like, hey, would 0:11:25.280 --> 0:11:29.920 you mind yeah this gallon jug and yes, it is 0:11:29.960 --> 0:11:32.000 exactly the way I need you to to do it. 0:11:32.040 --> 0:11:33.920 That's that's the what you're thinking, that's what I need. 0:11:34.240 --> 0:11:38.480 So he takes all this P and then of course 0:11:38.480 --> 0:11:40.559 he puts it into a giant fat because I mean, 0:11:40.600 --> 0:11:42.560 what else are you going to do with it? And 0:11:42.559 --> 0:11:46.360 then he boiled it. He boiled the P. I know 0:11:46.480 --> 0:11:49.240 you're thinking, I've smelled the privs on a hot day 0:11:49.240 --> 0:11:52.480 at the Georgia Renaissance Festival. That's what you're thinking, isn't 0:11:52.480 --> 0:11:57.000 it all? Yeah, that's that's a that's a smell that 0:11:57.040 --> 0:12:01.160 will linger in your thoughts forever. Trust me. The first 0:12:01.200 --> 0:12:05.840 year I did it was still haven't forgotten. So soups gross. 0:12:06.920 --> 0:12:10.400 He boils it, which ends up evaporating a lot of 0:12:10.400 --> 0:12:13.120 the water out of the content of the urine, and 0:12:13.160 --> 0:12:16.959 what was left behind was described as a surupy substance. 0:12:19.520 --> 0:12:23.760 No do not. And then as the stuff was heating up, 0:12:23.840 --> 0:12:28.600 it started to glow red hot. As it cooled, it 0:12:28.720 --> 0:12:33.520 turned black and became hard. If your urine turns red 0:12:33.520 --> 0:12:37.720 and in black, maybe you should go see it or something. Maybe. 0:12:38.160 --> 0:12:40.959 So he then takes some of the hardened black stuff 0:12:41.840 --> 0:12:44.320 and he mix mixes it with some of the red 0:12:44.400 --> 0:12:50.839 hot glowing stuff and ends up noticing that it caught fire. 0:12:51.080 --> 0:12:55.040 It just combusts, It bursts into flame, and he didn't 0:12:55.080 --> 0:12:58.240 realize that what he had discovered was phosphorus. He actually thought, 0:12:58.320 --> 0:13:01.560 originally and others did too, that he had come across 0:13:01.640 --> 0:13:05.920 the fabled Philosopher's stone. Um not that kind of stone 0:13:05.920 --> 0:13:08.719 in urine, And eventually he referred to the stuff as 0:13:08.760 --> 0:13:12.319 cold fire because he knows that this phosphorus would glow 0:13:12.400 --> 0:13:14.920 in the dark. It wouldn't give off heat, but would 0:13:14.920 --> 0:13:19.800 glow in the dark weird. So if one were to 0:13:19.800 --> 0:13:22.520 refine this phosphorus further, you would eventually get to what's 0:13:22.559 --> 0:13:25.880 called white phosphorus. Sometimes it's called yellow phosphorus because it's 0:13:25.880 --> 0:13:29.680 not really white white. Uh. This stuff is very dangerous 0:13:29.720 --> 0:13:35.840 because it ignites upon exposure to air. That sounds fun. Yeah, 0:13:35.920 --> 0:13:39.200 it's very much like you. So I must possess this magic. 0:13:39.679 --> 0:13:43.439 It wouldn't be for long it uh. So it ignites 0:13:43.840 --> 0:13:47.120 as soon as it it encounters oxygen. What's happening is 0:13:47.160 --> 0:13:53.320 that the phosphorus molecules. Just think of pretty thoughts, Alimona. 0:13:53.360 --> 0:13:57.480 I'll be back with you in a second. Uh, quietly 0:13:57.559 --> 0:14:02.480 think of pretty thoughts. Phosphorus molecules very weak molecular bonds, uh, 0:14:02.559 --> 0:14:06.920 and oxygen when it encounters phosphorus breaks those molecular bonds, 0:14:06.960 --> 0:14:10.000 and then the phosphorus bonds with the oxygen in an 0:14:10.000 --> 0:14:13.000 exothermic reaction, which means it's a reaction that gives off 0:14:13.080 --> 0:14:15.800 a lot of heat. And because it gives off a 0:14:15.800 --> 0:14:19.320 lot of heat very quickly, uh, it ignites, and so 0:14:19.480 --> 0:14:24.360 you have the spontaneously combustible material white phosphorus. All right, 0:14:24.440 --> 0:14:27.480 So that would become important for matches, but we don't 0:14:27.520 --> 0:14:31.440 get two matches just yet. We're still talking about the 0:14:31.480 --> 0:14:37.520 basic components that allow matches to become a thing. We will, however, 0:14:38.080 --> 0:14:42.320 talk about matches in just a moment, but before we 0:14:42.360 --> 0:14:45.240 do that, Almona, we're gonna take a quick break to 0:14:45.280 --> 0:14:49.400 thank our sponsors. Please don't set them on fire, not 0:14:49.480 --> 0:15:01.960 even a little bit. Okay, we're just gonna take a break. Okay, 0:15:02.080 --> 0:15:06.000 we're back. The studio remarkably is still standing and not 0:15:06.160 --> 0:15:10.360 currently on fire. Alimonia, you're still here. I know. It's 0:15:11.720 --> 0:15:15.640 thank goodness. We have all those blankets. So we're gonna 0:15:15.680 --> 0:15:19.520 move on. We just finished talking about peace science, which 0:15:19.640 --> 0:15:24.080 you were I could tell, So we're gonna move on. 0:15:24.200 --> 0:15:26.760 And now we're going to talk about a person named 0:15:26.920 --> 0:15:31.120 Jean Chancel. Oh he sounds pretty It's a fancy dude. 0:15:31.520 --> 0:15:35.200 Jean Chancel found a way to create a match using 0:15:35.280 --> 0:15:39.720 a chemical reaction. And this is probably the most hardcore 0:15:40.360 --> 0:15:44.680 metal way of lighting a match I have ever heard about. 0:15:44.960 --> 0:15:49.960 So okay, not that kind of all right, no, like 0:15:49.960 --> 0:15:53.400 like rock and roll metal. So he took a splint 0:15:53.560 --> 0:15:56.480 a piece of wood, and he coded it in a 0:15:56.560 --> 0:16:00.880 substance called potassium chlorate and he all so put in 0:16:00.960 --> 0:16:05.760 the same on the same mixture, some sugar and some 0:16:05.880 --> 0:16:09.960 sticky gum, and the gum was to bind everything together. 0:16:09.960 --> 0:16:11.960 It was to hold the sugar and the potassium chlorate 0:16:12.000 --> 0:16:15.200 together on the end of the stick. And then he 0:16:15.280 --> 0:16:18.640 dipped the end of the stick into a jar of 0:16:18.760 --> 0:16:24.200 sulfuric acid and that caused the stick to ignite, which is, 0:16:24.240 --> 0:16:27.960 like I said, super hardcore when you're using sulfuric acid 0:16:28.000 --> 0:16:31.400 to light your matches. So here's what's going on. I 0:16:31.480 --> 0:16:34.320 want to explain to you the actual chemical process, the 0:16:34.360 --> 0:16:38.480 reaction that's happening, so that we understand how this technology works. 0:16:38.960 --> 0:16:44.680 So potassium chlorate is an effective oxidizing agent. Now, Alumona, 0:16:44.720 --> 0:16:48.000 I know you know this from personal experience, hands on experience. 0:16:48.240 --> 0:16:53.480 But fire needs three things to be fire. And it's 0:16:53.520 --> 0:16:57.560 not magic, it's it's not love either. You want to 0:16:57.600 --> 0:16:59.920 give one more, more, more shot, you can give me 0:17:00.040 --> 0:17:02.640 you one of the three a spring day at the 0:17:02.640 --> 0:17:05.800 Georgia Renaissance Fest. Okay, none of those three things are necessary. No, 0:17:05.880 --> 0:17:10.560 it needs fuel, it needs heat, and it needs an oxidizer. Typically, 0:17:10.600 --> 0:17:14.560 the oxidizer for most fires that we encounter is the air, oxygen, 0:17:14.880 --> 0:17:18.119 oxygen as an oxidizer. Those three things are necessary. If 0:17:18.119 --> 0:17:21.199 you're missing any one of those three things, you cannot 0:17:21.280 --> 0:17:23.520 make fire. And if you have a fire, the fire 0:17:23.520 --> 0:17:26.320 will extinguish. So if you run out fuel, the fire 0:17:26.359 --> 0:17:29.640 goes out right. If you no longer have an oxidizer, 0:17:29.760 --> 0:17:32.879 the fire cannot burn anymore. If if the heat is 0:17:32.920 --> 0:17:35.800 removed from the fire, it will not continuously burn. It'll 0:17:35.880 --> 0:17:40.160 the the the chemical reaction that is fire will stop. 0:17:40.440 --> 0:17:46.639 So potassium chlorate is an effective oxidizing agent. The sugar 0:17:47.080 --> 0:17:51.359 is fuel UH. In fact, we all know sugar is 0:17:51.359 --> 0:17:53.560 fuel because if you ever had a lot of sugar 0:17:54.040 --> 0:17:57.640 like I suspect Alamona has had, you will be very 0:17:57.760 --> 0:18:01.600 energetic for at least a short while. And then potassium 0:18:01.640 --> 0:18:05.080 chlorate when it decomposes under heat, it releases molecular oxygen. 0:18:05.200 --> 0:18:09.600 So thus you get the oxidizing effect there. All right, 0:18:09.680 --> 0:18:13.080 So you've got everything you need mixed up. There. You've 0:18:13.080 --> 0:18:15.720 got the fuel and the oxidizer. There. You need to 0:18:15.760 --> 0:18:19.040 have the heat to start the reaction. Here's where the 0:18:19.040 --> 0:18:23.160 sulfuric acid comes in. When you dip this mixture of 0:18:23.200 --> 0:18:28.600 sugar and UH and potassium chlorate together in the sulfuric acid. 0:18:28.880 --> 0:18:31.440 It the acid actually acts as sort of a catalyst. 0:18:31.480 --> 0:18:36.120 It creates this exothermic chemical reaction. Again, exothermic means it's 0:18:36.119 --> 0:18:38.720 giving awful lot of heat. So now you've got the 0:18:38.760 --> 0:18:41.040 third part of that triangle, right, You've got the fuel, 0:18:41.240 --> 0:18:43.960 you have the oxidizer, you have the heat. The match 0:18:44.040 --> 0:18:47.280 catches on fire. But the only way it works, the 0:18:47.280 --> 0:18:48.560 only way it works is if you have a jar 0:18:48.560 --> 0:18:52.720 of sulfuric acid. So while this was effective, it was 0:18:52.800 --> 0:18:57.040 not uh something that a lot of people wanted because 0:18:57.600 --> 0:19:02.000 sulfuric acid is extremely reactive stuff off and if it 0:19:02.040 --> 0:19:05.480 touches organic material, it tends to char it not burn 0:19:05.520 --> 0:19:08.800 it like catch it on fire. It won't ignite, but 0:19:08.920 --> 0:19:11.919 it will char. Like if you just poured sulphuric acid 0:19:11.960 --> 0:19:14.679 on wood, the wood would char from that. So you 0:19:14.720 --> 0:19:17.440 definitely don't want to get it on yourself because you 0:19:17.480 --> 0:19:22.959 will suffer terrible injuries like Phantom of the Opera level injuries. 0:19:23.280 --> 0:19:26.360 It's a reference to that that. I guess you wouldn't get Alamona, 0:19:26.800 --> 0:19:30.840 but don't worry. I'll show it to you later. So yeah, 0:19:31.200 --> 0:19:35.200 so so this didn't this did not get widespread adoption 0:19:35.440 --> 0:19:39.320 because it was not practical. It was effective, but not practical. Also, 0:19:39.800 --> 0:19:47.080 the ignition was so usually pretty spectacular, so in other words, 0:19:47.080 --> 0:19:49.879 it wasn't like a small flame like or a small 0:19:49.920 --> 0:19:53.720 spark and then a flame. It was very bright, very loud, 0:19:54.600 --> 0:19:58.520 spontaneous combustion type flame. The stick goes boom, The stick 0:19:58.520 --> 0:20:03.480 goes boom, as you did, uh so eloquently put it earlier. Yes, 0:20:03.560 --> 0:20:07.800 in this case you were right. So this was an 0:20:07.800 --> 0:20:11.440 early example of using chemistry to ignit of fire as 0:20:11.440 --> 0:20:14.879 opposed to the old style of rubbing two sticks together 0:20:15.040 --> 0:20:20.439 kind of friction approach. Now, as I said, sulfuric acid 0:20:20.480 --> 0:20:22.679 is super duper dangerous all on its own, and this 0:20:22.720 --> 0:20:25.760 particular reaction was really dangerous as well. It also was 0:20:25.840 --> 0:20:29.560 very smelly. The the smoke it would give off had 0:20:29.600 --> 0:20:33.560 a foul odor. So there were a lot of downsides 0:20:33.880 --> 0:20:37.800 to this particular approach. Let's move forward to eighty six. 0:20:38.480 --> 0:20:43.040 Now we have an Englishman to talk about, Yes, exactly, 0:20:43.040 --> 0:20:48.840 one of your fellow Brits. This English chemist was named 0:20:49.000 --> 0:20:53.960 John Walker, and he was working on this problem two. 0:20:54.280 --> 0:20:57.600 I'm sorry, that's that's the English for you. So he 0:20:57.640 --> 0:21:02.440 wanted to pair chemicals together, so those two chemicals could 0:21:02.440 --> 0:21:06.800 burst into flame with a substance like cardboard or wood 0:21:06.840 --> 0:21:09.399 that could burn more slowly, so you would get an 0:21:09.440 --> 0:21:13.720 initial burst of flame with the chemicals that flame. That 0:21:13.800 --> 0:21:17.920 flame would then set fire to some sort of substance 0:21:17.960 --> 0:21:21.840 that can last longer. It would burn more slowly, and 0:21:22.280 --> 0:21:25.240 thus you could hold the other end as a handle. 0:21:25.800 --> 0:21:28.119 These are the components we need for a working match. 0:21:28.160 --> 0:21:30.320 We need something we can hold as a handle that's 0:21:30.400 --> 0:21:34.840 preferably not on fire. That's because we're touching it, and 0:21:34.840 --> 0:21:36.359 we have to have an end that is on fire 0:21:36.640 --> 0:21:39.520 or that can at least ignite, and then catch that 0:21:39.680 --> 0:21:41.960 end on fire. So that was the whole idea here, 0:21:42.200 --> 0:21:49.080 and touching fire is bad, right. So he was experimenting 0:21:49.080 --> 0:21:53.399 with different chemical mixtures, but he accidentally dragged a stick 0:21:53.560 --> 0:21:57.000 that was coded in these different chemical mixtures against the 0:21:57.080 --> 0:22:00.600 hearth of his fireplace and discovered that just the friction 0:22:01.200 --> 0:22:06.280 of moving this chemical coated stick against the heart generated 0:22:06.400 --> 0:22:09.919 enough heat to ignite the stick. So he invented a 0:22:10.040 --> 0:22:13.680 strike anywhere match. I matched that because the chemicals that 0:22:13.720 --> 0:22:16.119 were on the end of it, we're in the right mixture. 0:22:16.160 --> 0:22:19.120 They just need to be heated up enough to hit 0:22:19.160 --> 0:22:24.720 ignition and then puff burst into flame. So pretty exciting 0:22:24.840 --> 0:22:28.240 for him. He immediately saw the value of this discovery. 0:22:28.280 --> 0:22:31.399 He immediately saw the utility of it, but he also 0:22:31.440 --> 0:22:35.320 thought it was far too useful for him to make 0:22:35.359 --> 0:22:39.960 it secret. His friends were actually suggesting, hey, you should 0:22:39.960 --> 0:22:45.080 patent that. A guy named Faraday, very important person in science. 0:22:45.080 --> 0:22:50.880 I don't expect you to know him. Okay, fair enough. Faraday, 0:22:51.320 --> 0:22:53.919 uh recommended to Walker, hey you should patent that, and 0:22:53.920 --> 0:22:55.920 he said, no, nonsense, nonsense, I'm not going to patent 0:22:55.960 --> 0:22:59.520 it because it's far too interesting and important. People should 0:22:59.520 --> 0:23:01.840 be able to do with us whatever they want. And 0:23:01.960 --> 0:23:05.800 so that allowed a guy named Samuel Jones, another Englishman, 0:23:06.359 --> 0:23:10.600 very exciting name, Sammy Jones of London. He took the 0:23:10.640 --> 0:23:14.720 exact same approach as Walker, and so he began to 0:23:14.880 --> 0:23:18.840 market his own Strike Anywhere matches based on the exact 0:23:18.920 --> 0:23:23.720 same formula that Walker had created. And he called them Lucifers. 0:23:25.240 --> 0:23:30.120 Bringer of light. Yeah, a little little dark and and spooky, 0:23:30.359 --> 0:23:33.359 despite the fact that's also bringer of light. And Henry, 0:23:33.400 --> 0:23:35.800 the leader of the church, will protectors from lucier I'm 0:23:35.840 --> 0:23:40.920 sure that excellent. It's a good Anglican reference. So this 0:23:41.000 --> 0:23:44.480 began around eighty nine. And these matches again could be 0:23:44.480 --> 0:23:47.840 struck on any surface and would ignite, and they were 0:23:47.880 --> 0:23:51.840 still pretty spectacular matches, like the burst of flame was 0:23:51.880 --> 0:23:57.480 pretty bright and violent, also smelly. Again you identify with 0:23:57.560 --> 0:24:00.600 that and there, and they were more than a little 0:24:00.600 --> 0:24:03.399 bit dangerous. And other chemists over the time would play 0:24:03.400 --> 0:24:06.280 with different mixtures, and some of them would even use 0:24:06.760 --> 0:24:09.640 white phosphorus. Now you remember what I said earlier about 0:24:09.640 --> 0:24:13.280 white phosphorus rights this, this is the stuff that when 0:24:13.320 --> 0:24:17.400 you refine it down to white phosphorus, if it's exposed 0:24:17.760 --> 0:24:21.119 to the air, it will catch fire. That's what I 0:24:21.160 --> 0:24:24.040 want for Christmas. In case you went, well, they made 0:24:24.080 --> 0:24:27.479 matches out of the stuff, so you there are actual 0:24:27.520 --> 0:24:31.879 matches that had white phosphorus. And the idea was that 0:24:31.920 --> 0:24:34.600 they had a slight coating on the outside so that 0:24:34.640 --> 0:24:37.679 it wasn't constantly exposed to air, and that striking it 0:24:37.800 --> 0:24:41.080 would break that coating exposed the white phosphorus to air. 0:24:41.520 --> 0:24:43.840 It would then have this exothermic reaction I was talking 0:24:43.840 --> 0:24:46.760 about that would ignite the end of the match stick 0:24:46.800 --> 0:24:51.440 and you would get this very bright, powerful, uh light. 0:24:51.920 --> 0:24:56.040 The match however, It also meant that if the match 0:24:56.400 --> 0:24:59.439 heads were damaged at all and encountered the air, they 0:24:59.480 --> 0:25:04.600 would ignore spontaneously. So typically you would have a container 0:25:05.400 --> 0:25:09.280 that was air tight to keep these matches inside, because 0:25:09.280 --> 0:25:11.960 you didn't want to risk the danger of the matches 0:25:12.080 --> 0:25:15.639 going off on their own. Because this is all about 0:25:15.680 --> 0:25:20.960 controlled experiences with fire, Alamona, not not just rampant fire, 0:25:21.680 --> 0:25:28.360 lit fire. Your your sympathies lie in different areas than 0:25:28.400 --> 0:25:32.560 my own, but uh, other chemist chemists would play with 0:25:32.640 --> 0:25:37.560 these different approaches, trying to get it just right, and 0:25:37.760 --> 0:25:42.440 over time there was a decision to move away from 0:25:42.440 --> 0:25:46.000 white phosphorus matches, not just because they were dangerous. They 0:25:46.040 --> 0:25:49.080 were incredibly popular by the way. People loved the fact 0:25:49.080 --> 0:25:51.920 that you could strike these against anything. They were very convenient, 0:25:52.440 --> 0:25:59.360 but a misunderstood certainly dangerous because also it was discovered 0:25:59.400 --> 0:26:03.800 that people working in the manufacturing facilities they were making 0:26:03.840 --> 0:26:08.399 these white phosphorus matches, we're starting to get sick and 0:26:08.440 --> 0:26:12.560 they developed an illness that became known. And I am 0:26:12.600 --> 0:26:19.760 not making this up as fossey jaw jaw. Yeah, would 0:26:19.760 --> 0:26:21.200 you like to know the symptoms or you want to 0:26:21.240 --> 0:26:24.520