WEBVTT - Rerun: Firestarter 0:00:04.400 --> 0:00:07.800 Welcome to Tech Stuff, a production from I Heart Radio. 0:00:12.680 --> 0:00:15.120 Hey there, and welcome to tech Stuff. I'm your host, 0:00:15.240 --> 0:00:17.960 Jonathan Strickland of an executive producer with iHeart Radio and 0:00:18.000 --> 0:00:21.560 a lot of all things tech. And because we are 0:00:21.640 --> 0:00:25.639 taking today off as a holiday, I thought that I 0:00:25.640 --> 0:00:28.880 would rerun an episode to give myself and more importantly, 0:00:29.080 --> 0:00:32.360 my super producer TORII a little bit of a holiday break. 0:00:32.840 --> 0:00:35.199 So what you are about to hear is an episode 0:00:35.240 --> 0:00:39.400 that we actually published February of last year. Uh. This 0:00:39.600 --> 0:00:45.120 is an episode called Firestarter. It's about the development of 0:00:45.240 --> 0:00:49.480 matches primarily, and um, I thought it was appropriate because 0:00:49.479 --> 0:00:52.080 we just had the fourth of July weekend, so that 0:00:52.200 --> 0:00:56.760 typically involves lots of stuff like fireworks and grilling and 0:00:56.840 --> 0:00:59.520 things like that, stuff where matches might come in handy. 0:01:00.040 --> 0:01:02.600 So here's an episode about the development of matches. And 0:01:02.640 --> 0:01:06.880 also I gotta I gotta warn you. Uh. This episode 0:01:06.880 --> 0:01:12.240 has a special guest, um Alimona, who is a matchmaker 0:01:12.600 --> 0:01:21.119 at the Georgia Renaissance Festival, who also helps with the episode. 0:01:21.360 --> 0:01:25.600 It is a little silly and if you if you 0:01:25.959 --> 0:01:30.640 cringe easily at silly humor, just quick warning up front, 0:01:30.640 --> 0:01:34.480 that's gonna happen in this episode, but you will learn 0:01:34.640 --> 0:01:37.679 about the evolution of matches, which is pretty fascinating stuff 0:01:37.959 --> 0:01:42.120 filled with lots of dangerous chemistry. So I hope you 0:01:42.240 --> 0:01:45.240 enjoy and I hope you had a happy and safe 0:01:45.440 --> 0:01:51.240 Fourth of July weekend. Today we're going to talk about fire. 0:01:52.680 --> 0:01:59.360 It's somebody safe fire, no god, no. Um, ladies and gentlemen, 0:02:00.040 --> 0:02:06.840 I've been blessed with a special guest today. Would you 0:02:06.880 --> 0:02:10.160 please introduce herself to all these nice people. Well, I'm 0:02:10.240 --> 0:02:14.520 almona middler, and I'm a matchmaker that I didn't quite 0:02:14.560 --> 0:02:20.040 understand what matchmaking entailed, so I'm quite good at starting fires. Yes, 0:02:20.160 --> 0:02:23.400 so um, for those who do not know, I have 0:02:23.560 --> 0:02:28.560 a sordid history with the Georgia Renaissance Festival, and it 0:02:28.680 --> 0:02:33.640 was there, I believe where my path first crossed with 0:02:33.720 --> 0:02:38.240 that of alamonas uh the village matchmaker. And um, I 0:02:38.320 --> 0:02:41.840 guess it's only fitting that for this episode I have 0:02:41.960 --> 0:02:48.720 a pyro enthusiast join us for the show. So, Alimona, 0:02:48.840 --> 0:02:53.720 thank you for being here. Hey, thank you for having me. 0:02:53.800 --> 0:02:57.160 You look quite familiar. I can't quite put my matchtick 0:02:57.240 --> 0:02:59.440 on it, but yeah, you see a lot of faces 0:02:59.480 --> 0:03:01.440 at the festive. Well, I'm I'm sure there are a 0:03:01.440 --> 0:03:03.520 lot of I have one of those faces too, like 0:03:03.680 --> 0:03:06.120 you know, one of the ones that lots of people have. Um, 0:03:06.840 --> 0:03:10.200 because we let's get your Jonathan Strickland mask at the 0:03:10.280 --> 0:03:14.480 tech stuff store today. No, they're not really, They're okay, 0:03:14.480 --> 0:03:18.680 But we're gonna talk about stuff like matches, which I 0:03:18.760 --> 0:03:21.960 understand you consider yourself somewhat of an expert on which 0:03:22.040 --> 0:03:25.720 I find perplexing. I am an expert on matches. It's 0:03:25.800 --> 0:03:29.079 it's a little wooden stick thing and then and then 0:03:29.160 --> 0:03:31.839 you you you you strike the end of it and 0:03:31.840 --> 0:03:33.840 and it in it, and then it goes boom, and 0:03:33.880 --> 0:03:36.600 then the pretty orange stuff comes out and it's very hot. 0:03:36.760 --> 0:03:39.280 It's odd to me that you would be so familiar 0:03:39.360 --> 0:03:42.960 with them, because the matches as you describe them, weren't 0:03:43.000 --> 0:03:47.200 available until the early nineteenth century, and if my math 0:03:47.320 --> 0:03:53.680 is correct, the renaissances before times of the nineteenth century, 0:03:54.200 --> 0:03:58.880 my whole life has been a lie. Fair enough, all right, Well, Alimona, 0:03:58.920 --> 0:04:01.160 I'm glad you could be here because I'm going to 0:04:01.240 --> 0:04:04.240 explain to you the history of matches, and if you 0:04:04.320 --> 0:04:06.440 have things you want to say or questions, you want 0:04:06.480 --> 0:04:10.800 to ask, then we can, you know, really focus on that. 0:04:10.840 --> 0:04:12.640 And there's sometimes where I'm going to ask you a 0:04:12.720 --> 0:04:15.840 question just to see what you know about things, And 0:04:15.880 --> 0:04:18.240 when we find out the depth of your ignorance, I 0:04:18.279 --> 0:04:23.680 will then illuminate by explaining exactly what the reality of 0:04:23.680 --> 0:04:26.680 the situation is. I really like the word illuminate, but 0:04:26.760 --> 0:04:30.440 I don't quite like the word ignorance. I think the 0:04:30.480 --> 0:04:33.320 man explaining part of the episode is just the guns. 0:04:33.480 --> 0:04:36.680 So we're gonna begin, as I said, with the history 0:04:36.680 --> 0:04:38.440 of matches. You know, you might think of it as 0:04:38.480 --> 0:04:42.919 the predecessor to the lighter. Uh, that's a lighter, lighter 0:04:42.960 --> 0:04:47.520 than what? Okay, right, what's a heavier? Is there a heavier? No? Okay, 0:04:47.600 --> 0:04:50.920 this is this is how this is gonna go us 0:04:51.000 --> 0:04:55.000 A lighter thing that produces flame over and over and 0:04:55.000 --> 0:05:00.320 over again, and yeah, you would love them. And inesting 0:05:00.320 --> 0:05:03.480 thing is that the modern match and the modern lighter 0:05:04.040 --> 0:05:07.880 actually were developed around the same time. They were co developed, 0:05:08.240 --> 0:05:10.599 and around the same time. We would normally think the 0:05:10.640 --> 0:05:13.760 matches must have come much earlier, but modern matches rely 0:05:14.320 --> 0:05:18.799 very heavily on something you and I completely lack chemistry. 0:05:19.000 --> 0:05:22.560 So we're gonna talk about that. But we're going to 0:05:22.640 --> 0:05:26.240 start with matches. And really, when we talk about matches, 0:05:26.760 --> 0:05:30.440 you gotta look all the way back to China. The country, 0:05:30.560 --> 0:05:33.400 not the type of dishes. I can see your mind 0:05:33.440 --> 0:05:36.360 working right in front of me, Alumona, I got left 0:05:36.360 --> 0:05:39.719 the way China sounds when you break it. Yeah, So 0:05:39.800 --> 0:05:45.400 the country of China, Uh, they began to experiment using 0:05:45.760 --> 0:05:49.360 sticks dipped in sulfur. And this was not the type 0:05:49.400 --> 0:05:52.080 of match that you would strike against a surface and 0:05:52.120 --> 0:05:56.600 have it ignite. Instead, it was a way of lighting 0:05:56.760 --> 0:06:00.520 something and having it burn at a controlled rate so 0:06:00.560 --> 0:06:03.280 that you could transfer the fire from one place to another. 0:06:03.520 --> 0:06:08.400 For example, from say a roaring fire to a candle. 0:06:08.880 --> 0:06:11.640 You would want to be able to move that fire around. 0:06:11.720 --> 0:06:15.400 And as we all know, moving fire just with your 0:06:15.400 --> 0:06:19.360 hands is a bad idea because it's because it's hot. 0:06:19.720 --> 0:06:23.000 But it's very fun. Okay, all right, We're also going 0:06:23.000 --> 0:06:26.440 to stress to our listeners playing with fire is a 0:06:26.520 --> 0:06:30.679 dangerous thing once you get past the tingling sensation. Okay, 0:06:30.760 --> 0:06:34.160 all right now, Alamona, really let's let's refocus here. So 0:06:34.520 --> 0:06:38.240 those matches don't really fit our modern description of the word, 0:06:38.839 --> 0:06:43.560 and they would not really play into the type of 0:06:43.600 --> 0:06:45.640 strike matches that we think of when we hear the 0:06:45.680 --> 0:06:49.640 word match. So instead you have to go all the 0:06:49.680 --> 0:06:53.560 way up to the seventeen century, So a bit late 0:06:53.560 --> 0:06:55.880 in the day for you, Alimona, I'd be an old 0:06:55.920 --> 0:07:00.599 woman diving. I might be as old as years old. 0:07:01.480 --> 0:07:06.280 That's interesting. Yeah, I guess you would definitely adhere to 0:07:06.360 --> 0:07:09.680 the philosophy that's better to burn out than to fade away. 0:07:10.520 --> 0:07:15.320 Good one, thank you. So in the in the in 0:07:15.360 --> 0:07:21.880 the seventeenth century, there was this, uh, this German alchemist, 0:07:23.240 --> 0:07:30.240 hennig Brandt, thank you. So he was attempting to do 0:07:30.440 --> 0:07:33.920 what many alchemists were trying to do. Oh I knowed 0:07:33.960 --> 0:07:39.160 alchemist is that's like a scientist, not really uh, predecessor 0:07:39.240 --> 0:07:44.240 to science. I would argue closer, I would argue closer 0:07:44.280 --> 0:07:48.240 to Professor Snape than a scientist. Yes, alchemy is all 0:07:48.320 --> 0:07:51.720 about the attempt to figure out ways to turn base 0:07:51.920 --> 0:07:58.680 metals or base materials into gold, which to this day 0:07:58.840 --> 0:08:03.240 perplexes me because Alamono, just just follow along with me here, 0:08:03.280 --> 0:08:05.800 all right, I'm going to explain to you the concept 0:08:06.000 --> 0:08:09.200 of supply and demand as well as that of value, 0:08:09.560 --> 0:08:15.160 right something. Oh boy, I'm glad I didn't say that. 0:08:15.240 --> 0:08:20.200 So gold people ascribe great value to gold. Right, Gold 0:08:20.440 --> 0:08:24.200 is valuable. It lets you buy stuff. If you amass 0:08:24.240 --> 0:08:29.600 a lot of gold, you have wealth. Correct concept foreign 0:08:29.640 --> 0:08:33.160 to me, but yes, yes, so you understand the idea 0:08:33.240 --> 0:08:37.559 of wealth, even though you may never have possessed it yourself. Right, So, 0:08:38.920 --> 0:08:41.880 alchemists wanted to find a way to turn other types 0:08:41.920 --> 0:08:45.320 of stuff into gold. But if you could do that, 0:08:45.559 --> 0:08:49.200 if you could turn say lead into gold, then you 0:08:49.240 --> 0:08:52.320 would suddenly have a surplus of gold. And one of 0:08:52.360 --> 0:08:55.040 the things, in fact, the chief thing that makes gold 0:08:55.160 --> 0:09:00.120 valuable is its scarcity. So if you've taken some thing 0:09:00.160 --> 0:09:03.400 that was valuable because it was scarce, and you made 0:09:03.440 --> 0:09:06.960 a whole bunch more of it, what do you think happens? 0:09:08.679 --> 0:09:13.280 Lots and lots of money? Is that right? Okay? All right, 0:09:13.360 --> 0:09:17.520 so you're you're you're about a step behind me. No, 0:09:17.679 --> 0:09:19.120 if you have too much of it, if you have 0:09:19.160 --> 0:09:21.679 a lot of of this gold that was valuable because 0:09:21.679 --> 0:09:23.840 of its scarcity, is no longer scarce, It is no 0:09:23.920 --> 0:09:27.600 longer valuable. Yes, it means that you would have way 0:09:27.640 --> 0:09:32.640 too much of it. And yeah, up until the point 0:09:32.640 --> 0:09:35.679 where you had an abundance of gold on the market, 0:09:35.679 --> 0:09:38.120 in which case the value would plummet. So I never 0:09:38.200 --> 0:09:42.719 understood alchemy from that perspective. But um, let's get dig 0:09:42.760 --> 0:09:46.160 a little deeper, because boy, it gets way more weird 0:09:46.240 --> 0:09:51.400 than that. So one of the important advancements that made 0:09:51.440 --> 0:09:57.360 matches possible was the discovery of phosphorus. So phosphoruss it's 0:09:57.400 --> 0:10:01.199 it's a naturally occurring element, but usually we wouldn't. It's 0:10:01.240 --> 0:10:04.880 usually bound up in other things. The less said about that, 0:10:04.920 --> 0:10:07.520 the better with you here, Alamona. But it's bound up 0:10:07.520 --> 0:10:10.480 with other things, and then if we can refine it, 0:10:10.520 --> 0:10:14.520 then we can use it as a component in things 0:10:14.520 --> 0:10:21.079 like matches. So hinnig Brand discovered how to isolate phosphorus. 0:10:22.160 --> 0:10:24.560 That's not what he was trying to do, but it 0:10:24.640 --> 0:10:29.199 is what he effectively ended up doing. Ah, he isolated 0:10:29.200 --> 0:10:34.880 phosphorus from urine. Yeah, yeah, I thought I would blind 0:10:34.840 --> 0:10:39.720 inside you. We're going to talk about pa science. Yeah, 0:10:40.040 --> 0:10:43.400 that's right, you get it all out there, Almona. So 0:10:43.559 --> 0:10:49.040 what are you saying that when when I use the privy, 0:10:49.120 --> 0:10:52.880 I'm sitting on a gold mine, or rather a phosphorus mind. Hinnig, Well, 0:10:52.920 --> 0:10:55.640 you're certainly sitting on a phosphorus mine, hinnig Brand, but 0:10:56.000 --> 0:10:58.240 perhaps it was a gold mine. Here was his line 0:10:58.280 --> 0:11:04.000 of color. Yeah, exactly, that's exactly what Brand was thinking. No, 0:11:04.200 --> 0:11:07.280 you're you're on the right track. He was sitting there thinking, 0:11:08.000 --> 0:11:13.280 you know what, he's kind of yellow. Gold's yellow. Maybe 0:11:13.280 --> 0:11:15.600 P is yellow because there's gold in them, the RP. 0:11:16.960 --> 0:11:20.240 So he thought, how do I get the P away 0:11:20.280 --> 0:11:24.320 and keep the gold? Alchemists was so smart back then, 0:11:24.880 --> 0:11:27.560 I thought you'd think so. So here's what he did. 0:11:28.679 --> 0:11:32.960 Stop me if you heard this before he goes and 0:11:33.000 --> 0:11:36.320 he collects a lot of P, go ahead and ask 0:11:36.360 --> 0:11:38.560 me how much is a lot of P? How much 0:11:38.640 --> 0:11:43.080 is a lot of gallons of the stuff? How many 0:11:43.120 --> 0:11:46.040 friends did he have? It was just a Super Bowl weekend? 0:11:46.240 --> 0:11:48.920 How many how many close friends did he have? More 0:11:49.480 --> 0:11:51.160 fewer by the end of it than he did at 0:11:51.160 --> 0:11:53.440 the beginning of it. I'm sure it's that I realize 0:11:53.440 --> 0:11:55.480 how few friends I have. I don't know who I 0:11:55.480 --> 0:11:58.320 could just walk up to and say, like, hey, would 0:11:58.360 --> 0:12:03.000 you mind Yeah this gallon jug and yes, it is 0:12:03.040 --> 0:12:05.080 exactly the way I need you to to do it. 0:12:05.120 --> 0:12:07.000 That's that's the what you're thinking, that's what I need. 0:12:07.320 --> 0:12:11.559 So he takes all this p and then of course 0:12:11.559 --> 0:12:13.640 he puts it into a giant fat because I mean, 0:12:13.640 --> 0:12:15.840 what else are you gonna do with it? And then 0:12:15.880 --> 0:12:20.120 he boiled it. He boiled the P. I know you're thinking, 0:12:20.440 --> 0:12:22.480 I've smelled the privs on a hot day at the 0:12:22.480 --> 0:12:27.560 Georgia Renaissance Festival. That's what you're thinking, isn't it allen? Yeah, 0:12:27.760 --> 0:12:31.000 that's that's a that's a smell that will linger in 0:12:31.040 --> 0:12:34.720 your thoughts forever. Trust me. The first year I did 0:12:34.760 --> 0:12:41.160 it was still haven't forgotten. So soups gross. He boils it, 0:12:41.240 --> 0:12:44.240 which ends up evaporating a lot of the water out 0:12:44.240 --> 0:12:46.760 of the content of the urine, and what was left 0:12:46.760 --> 0:12:53.280 behind was described as a surap substance. No do not. 0:12:54.120 --> 0:12:57.480 And then as the stuff was heating up, it started 0:12:57.520 --> 0:13:02.800 to glow red hot. As it cooled, it turned black 0:13:03.160 --> 0:13:07.240 and became hard. If your urine turns red and the black, 0:13:07.360 --> 0:13:11.560 maybe you should go see it something. Maybe. So he 0:13:11.600 --> 0:13:15.120 then takes some of the hardened black stuff and he 0:13:15.240 --> 0:13:18.320 mix mixes it with some of the red hot glowing 0:13:18.440 --> 0:13:24.240 stuff and ends up noticing that it caught fire. It 0:13:24.360 --> 0:13:28.600 just combusts, It bursts into flame, and he didn't realize 0:13:28.640 --> 0:13:32.000 that what he had discovered was phosphorus. He actually thought, originally, 0:13:32.040 --> 0:13:34.760 and others did too, that he had come across the 0:13:34.800 --> 0:13:39.520 fabled Philosopher's stone. Um, not that kind of stone and urine. 0:13:39.880 --> 0:13:42.600 And eventually he referred to the stuff as cold fire 0:13:42.679 --> 0:13:46.240 because he knows that this phosphorus would glow in the dark. 0:13:46.760 --> 0:13:49.760 It wouldn't give off heat, but would glow in the dark. Weird. 0:13:50.120 --> 0:13:54.319 So if one were to refine this phosphorus further, you 0:13:54.320 --> 0:13:57.559 would eventually get to what's called white phosphorus. Sometimes it's 0:13:57.559 --> 0:14:01.280 called yellow phosphorus because it's not really white white. Uh. 0:14:01.320 --> 0:14:05.080 This stuff is very dangerous because it ignites upon exposure 0:14:05.160 --> 0:14:10.040 to air. That sounds fun. Yeah, it's very much like you, 0:14:10.400 --> 0:14:15.920 So it wouldn't be for long it uh. So it 0:14:16.000 --> 0:14:20.200 ignites as soon as it encounters oxygen. What's happening is 0:14:20.240 --> 0:14:26.440 that the phosphorus molecules. Just think of pretty thoughts, Alimona. 0:14:26.440 --> 0:14:30.560 I'll be back with you in a second. Uh, quietly 0:14:30.600 --> 0:14:35.560 think of pretty thoughts. Phosphorus molecules have very weak molecular bonds, uh, 0:14:35.600 --> 0:14:39.960 and oxygen when it encounters phosphorus breaks those molecular bonds, 0:14:40.040 --> 0:14:43.040 and then the phosphorus bonds with the oxygen in an 0:14:43.080 --> 0:14:46.120 exothermic reaction, which means it's a reaction that gives off 0:14:46.160 --> 0:14:48.880 a lot of heat, and because it gives off a 0:14:48.880 --> 0:14:52.400 lot of heat very quickly, uh, it ignites, and so 0:14:52.560 --> 0:14:57.400 you have the spontaneously combustible material, uh, white phosphorus. All right, 0:14:57.520 --> 0:15:00.600 So that would become important for matches. But we don't 0:15:00.600 --> 0:15:04.520 get two matches just yet. We're still talking about the 0:15:04.520 --> 0:15:10.600 basic components that allow matches to become a thing. We will, however, 0:15:11.160 --> 0:15:15.400 talk about matches in just a moment. But before we 0:15:15.440 --> 0:15:18.320 do that, Almona, we're gonna take a quick break to 0:15:18.360 --> 0:15:22.480 thank our sponsors. Please don't set them on fire, not 0:15:22.560 --> 0:15:35.040 even a little bit. Okay, we're just gonna take a break. Okay, 0:15:35.120 --> 0:15:39.080 we're back. The studio remarkably is still standing and not 0:15:39.240 --> 0:15:43.440 currently on fire. Alimona, you're still here. I know. It's 0:15:44.760 --> 0:15:48.440 thank goodness we have all those blankets. Uh. So we're 0:15:48.440 --> 0:15:51.960 gonna move on. We just finished talking about pa science, 0:15:52.280 --> 0:15:56.760 which you were yah, I could tell. So we're gonna 0:15:56.800 --> 0:15:59.200 move on, and now we're going to talk about a 0:15:59.240 --> 0:16:03.480 person named Jean Chancel. Oh he sounds pretty it's the 0:16:03.520 --> 0:16:07.400 fancy dude, Jean Chancel found a way to create a 0:16:07.480 --> 0:16:11.840 match using a chemical reaction. And this is probably the 0:16:11.880 --> 0:16:16.560 most hardcore metal way of lighting a match I have 0:16:16.760 --> 0:16:21.680 ever heard about. So, okay, not that kind of all right, 0:16:22.440 --> 0:16:25.480 you no, like like rock and roll metal. So he 0:16:25.520 --> 0:16:29.040 took a splint piece of wood and he coded it 0:16:29.360 --> 0:16:33.560 in a substance called potassium chlorate, and he also put 0:16:33.880 --> 0:16:38.440 in the same on the same mixture some sugar and 0:16:38.600 --> 0:16:43.040 some sticky gum. And the gum was to bind everything together. 0:16:43.040 --> 0:16:45.040 It was to hold the sugar and the potassium chlorate 0:16:45.080 --> 0:16:48.280 together on the end of the stick. And then he 0:16:48.360 --> 0:16:51.720 dipped the end of this stick into a jar of 0:16:51.840 --> 0:16:57.280 sulfuric acid, and that caused the stick to ignite, which is, 0:16:57.320 --> 0:17:01.040 like I said, super hardcore when you're using sulfuric acid 0:17:01.080 --> 0:17:04.520 to light your matches. So here's what's going on. I 0:17:04.520 --> 0:17:07.399 want to explain to you the actual chemical process, the 0:17:07.440 --> 0:17:12.119 reaction that's happening, so that we understand how this technology works. So, 0:17:12.160 --> 0:17:17.879 potassium chlorate is an effective oxidizing agent. Now, Alumona, I 0:17:17.880 --> 0:17:21.040 know you know this from personal experience, hands on experience, 0:17:21.320 --> 0:17:26.560 but fire needs three things to be fire, and it's 0:17:26.600 --> 0:17:30.639 not magic. It's it's not love either. You want to 0:17:30.680 --> 0:17:33.200 give one more more, more shot, you can get maybe 0:17:33.200 --> 0:17:36.120 one of the three a spring day at the Georgia 0:17:36.119 --> 0:17:38.879 Renaissance Fest. Okay, none of those three things are necessary. No, 0:17:38.960 --> 0:17:43.000 it needs fuel, it needs heat, and it needs an oxidizer. 0:17:43.200 --> 0:17:46.600 Typically the oxidizer for most fires that we encounter is 0:17:46.680 --> 0:17:50.400 the air oxygen oxygen as an oxidizer. Those three things 0:17:50.400 --> 0:17:53.480 are necessary. If you're missing any one of those three things, 0:17:53.760 --> 0:17:56.119 you cannot make fire. And if you have a fire, 0:17:56.200 --> 0:17:58.879 the fire will extinguish. So if you run out fuel, 0:17:59.040 --> 0:18:01.800 the fire goes out right. If you no longer have 0:18:01.920 --> 0:18:05.520 an oxidizer, the fire cannot burn anymore. If if the 0:18:05.520 --> 0:18:08.520 heat is removed from the fire, it will not continuously burn. 0:18:08.600 --> 0:18:12.040 It will the the the chemical reaction that is fire 0:18:12.520 --> 0:18:18.720 will stop. So potassium chlorate is an effective oxidizing agent. 0:18:19.080 --> 0:18:22.760 The sugar is fuel. Uh. In fact, we all know 0:18:23.359 --> 0:18:26.200 sugar is fuel because if you ever had a lot 0:18:26.200 --> 0:18:30.080 of sugar like I suspect Alamona has had, you will 0:18:30.119 --> 0:18:33.959 be very energetic for at least a short while. And 0:18:34.000 --> 0:18:37.000 then potassium chlorate when it decomposes under heat, it releases 0:18:37.040 --> 0:18:41.920 molecular oxygen so thus you get the oxidizing effect there. 0:18:42.320 --> 0:18:45.960 All right, so you've got everything you need mixed up there. 0:18:46.000 --> 0:18:48.680 You've got the fuel and the oxidizer. There, you need 0:18:48.720 --> 0:18:52.040 to have the heat to start the reaction. Here's where 0:18:52.040 --> 0:18:55.840 the sulfuric acid comes in. When you dip this mixture 0:18:56.080 --> 0:19:00.679 of sugar and UH and potassium chlorate together in the 0:19:00.680 --> 0:19:04.520 sulfuric acid, the acid actually acts as sort of a catalyst. 0:19:04.560 --> 0:19:09.160 It creates this exothermic chemical reaction. Again, exothermic means it's 0:19:09.200 --> 0:19:11.800 giving awful lot of heat. So now you've got the 0:19:11.840 --> 0:19:14.119 third part of that triangle. Right. You've got the fuel, 0:19:14.320 --> 0:19:17.040 you have the oxidizer, you have the heat. The match 0:19:17.080 --> 0:19:20.320 catches on fire. But the only way it works, the 0:19:20.359 --> 0:19:21.640 only way it works is if you have a jar 0:19:21.680 --> 0:19:25.800 of sulfuric acid. So while this was effective, it was 0:19:25.880 --> 0:19:30.119 not UH something that a lot of people wanted because 0:19:30.680 --> 0:19:35.520 sulfuric acid is extremely reactive stuff, and if it touches 0:19:35.720 --> 0:19:38.719 organic material, it tends to char it not burn it 0:19:38.800 --> 0:19:42.040 like catch it on fire. It won't ignite, but it 0:19:42.080 --> 0:19:45.480 will char. Like if you just poured sulfuric acid on wood, 0:19:45.600 --> 0:19:48.280 the wood would char from that. So you definitely don't 0:19:48.320 --> 0:19:51.159 want to get it on yourself because you will suffer 0:19:51.920 --> 0:19:56.480 terrible injuries like Phantom of the Opera level injuries. It's 0:19:56.480 --> 0:19:59.840 a reference that I guess you wouldn't get Alamona, but 0:20:00.680 --> 0:20:04.080 don't worry. I'll show it to you later. So yeah, 0:20:04.280 --> 0:20:08.280 So so this didn't This did not get widespread adoption 0:20:08.520 --> 0:20:12.280 because it was not practical. It was effective, but not practical. Also, 0:20:12.880 --> 0:20:20.120 the ignition was usually pretty spectacular, so in other words, 0:20:20.160 --> 0:20:22.960 it wasn't like a small flame like or a small 0:20:23.000 --> 0:20:26.800 spark and then a flame. It was very bright, very loud, 0:20:27.680 --> 0:20:31.600 spontaneous combustion type flame. The stick goes boom, The stick 0:20:31.600 --> 0:20:36.560 goes boom, as you did, uh so eloquently put it earlier. Yes, 0:20:36.640 --> 0:20:40.840 in this case, you were right. So this was an 0:20:40.880 --> 0:20:44.520 early example of using chemistry to ignit of fire as 0:20:44.520 --> 0:20:47.919 opposed to the old style of rubbing two sticks together 0:20:48.119 --> 0:20:53.440 kind of friction approach. Now, as I said, sulfuric acid 0:20:53.560 --> 0:20:55.760 is super duper dangerous all on its own, and this 0:20:55.800 --> 0:20:58.840 particular reaction was really dangerous as well. It also was 0:20:58.920 --> 0:21:03.320 very smelly. The smoke it would give off had a 0:21:03.440 --> 0:21:07.040 foul odor. So there are a lot of downsides to 0:21:07.160 --> 0:21:10.880 this particular approach. Let's move forward to eighteen twenty six. 0:21:11.560 --> 0:21:16.080 Now we have an Englishman to talk about, Yes, someone exactly, 0:21:16.119 --> 0:21:21.920 one of your fellow Brits. This English chemist was named 0:21:22.080 --> 0:21:27.000 John Walker, and he was working on this problem two. 0:21:27.359 --> 0:21:30.679 I'm sorry, that's that's the English for you. So he 0:21:30.720 --> 0:21:35.480 wanted to pair chemicals together so those two chemicals could 0:21:35.520 --> 0:21:39.840 burst into flame with a substance like cardboard or wood 0:21:39.880 --> 0:21:42.480 that could burn more slowly, so you would get an 0:21:42.480 --> 0:21:46.800 initial burst of flame with the chemicals that flame. That 0:21:46.880 --> 0:21:51.000 flame would then set fire to some sort of substance 0:21:51.040 --> 0:21:54.920 that could last longer. It would burn more slowly, and 0:21:55.320 --> 0:21:58.199 thus you could hold the other end as a handle. 0:21:58.880 --> 0:22:01.200 These are the components we need for a working match. 0:22:01.240 --> 0:22:03.399 We need something we can hold as a handle that's 0:22:03.480 --> 0:22:07.879 probably not on fire, yes, because we're touching it, and 0:22:07.920 --> 0:22:09.439 we have to have an end that is on fire 0:22:09.720 --> 0:22:12.600 or that can at least ignite, and then catch that 0:22:12.760 --> 0:22:15.000 end on fire. So that was the whole idea here, 0:22:15.240 --> 0:22:22.120 and touching fire is bad, right. So he was experimenting 0:22:22.160 --> 0:22:26.479 with different chemical mixtures, but he accidentally dragged a stick 0:22:26.640 --> 0:22:30.080 that was coded in these different chemical mixtures against the 0:22:30.119 --> 0:22:33.680 hearth of his fireplace and discovered that just the friction 0:22:34.280 --> 0:22:39.360 of moving this chemical coated stick against the hearth generated 0:22:39.440 --> 0:22:43.000 enough heat to ignite the stick. So he invented a 0:22:43.080 --> 0:22:46.760 strike anywhere match. I matched that because the chemicals that 0:22:46.800 --> 0:22:49.200 were on the end of it, we're in the right mixture. 0:22:49.240 --> 0:22:52.160 They just need to be heated up enough to hit 0:22:52.200 --> 0:22:57.760 ignition and then PuF burst into flame. So pretty exciting 0:22:57.920 --> 0:23:01.320 for him. He immediately saw a value of this discovery. 0:23:01.320 --> 0:23:04.440 He immediately saw the utility of it, but he also 0:23:04.480 --> 0:23:08.400 thought it was far too useful for him to make 0:23:08.440 --> 0:23:13.040 it secret. His friends were actually suggesting, hey, you should 0:23:13.040 --> 0:23:18.119 patent that. A guy named Faraday, very important person in science. 0:23:18.160 --> 0:23:21.800 I don't expect you to know him. Fair Faraday? Okay, 0:23:21.840 --> 0:23:26.480 fair enough Faraday. Uh recommended to Walker, Hey you should 0:23:26.480 --> 0:23:28.480 patent that, and he said, no, nonsense, nonsense, I'm not 0:23:28.480 --> 0:23:31.720 going to patent it because it's far too interesting and important. 0:23:32.040 --> 0:23:34.000 People should be able to do with us whatever they want. 0:23:34.640 --> 0:23:38.879 And so that allowed a guy named Samuel Jones, another Englishman, 0:23:39.440 --> 0:23:43.639 very exciting name, Sammy Jones of London. He took the 0:23:43.720 --> 0:23:47.800 exact same approach as Walker, and so he began to 0:23:47.960 --> 0:23:51.960 market his own strike anywhere matches based on the exact 0:23:52.000 --> 0:23:56.800 same formula that Walker had created, and he called them lucifers. 0:23:58.320 --> 0:24:03.200 Bringer of light. Yeah, a little little dark and and spooky, 0:24:03.440 --> 0:24:06.439 despite the fact that's also bringer of light. And Henry, 0:24:06.480 --> 0:24:08.640 the leader of the church, will protectors from the super 0:24:08.720 --> 0:24:12.960 I'm sure that excellent leader. It's a good Anglican reference. 0:24:13.280 --> 0:24:17.280 So this began around eighty nine. And these matches again 0:24:17.320 --> 0:24:20.520 can be struck on any surface and would ignite. And 0:24:20.640 --> 0:24:24.359 they were still pretty spectacular matches, like the burst of 0:24:24.400 --> 0:24:29.879 flame was pretty bright and violent, also smelly. Again you 0:24:29.920 --> 0:24:33.320 identify with that and there, and they were more than 0:24:33.359 --> 0:24:35.920 a little bit dangerous. And other chemists over the time 0:24:35.960 --> 0:24:38.760 would play with different mixtures, and some of them would 0:24:38.760 --> 0:24:42.120 even use white phosphorus. Now you remember what I said 0:24:42.119 --> 0:24:46.159 earlier about white phosphorus rights. This is the stuff that 0:24:46.200 --> 0:24:49.680 when you refine it down to white phosphorus, if it's 0:24:49.720 --> 0:24:54.080 exposed to the air, it will catch fire. That's what 0:24:54.119 --> 0:24:57.560 I want for Christmas in case, Well, they made matches 0:24:57.600 --> 0:25:01.119 out of the stuff, so you are actual matches that 0:25:01.200 --> 0:25:05.239 had white phosphorus, and the idea was that they had 0:25:05.240 --> 0:25:08.240 a slight coating on the outside so that it wasn't 0:25:08.280 --> 0:25:11.399 constantly exposed to air, and that striking it would break 0:25:11.440 --> 0:25:14.920 that coating, exposed the white phosphorus to air. It would 0:25:14.920 --> 0:25:17.440 then have this exothermic reaction I was talking about that 0:25:17.480 --> 0:25:20.040 would ignite the end of the match stick and you 0:25:20.080 --> 0:25:26.040 would get this very bright, powerful uh light the match. However, 0:25:27.080 --> 0:25:30.440 it also meant that if the match heads were damaged 0:25:30.480 --> 0:25:34.200 at all and encountered the air, they would ignite spontaneously. 0:25:35.680 --> 0:25:39.080 So typically you would have a container that was air 0:25:39.160 --> 0:25:43.000 tight to keep these matches inside, because you didn't want 0:25:43.040 --> 0:25:45.879 to risk the danger of the matches going off on 0:25:45.960 --> 0:25:51.960 their own. Because this is all about controlled experiences with fire, Alamona, 0:25:52.040 --> 0:26:00.000 not not just rampant fire, lit fire. Your your sympathy 0:26:00.040 --> 0:26:03.720 is lie in different areas than my own. But h 0:26:03.840 --> 0:26:07.399 other chemist chemists would play with these different approaches trying 0:26:07.440 --> 0:26:13.000 to get it just right, and over time there was 0:26:13.960 --> 0:26:16.960 a decision to move away from white phosphorus matches, not 0:26:17.119 --> 0:26:20.239 just because they were dangerous. They were incredibly popular by 0:26:20.240 --> 0:26:22.920 the way. People loved the fact that you could strike 0:26:22.960 --> 0:26:28.760 these against anything. They were very convenient, but misunderstood certainly 0:26:28.840 --> 0:26:33.680 dangerous because also it was discovered that people working in 0:26:33.720 --> 0:26:38.320 the manufacturing facilities. They were making these white phosphorus matches. 0:26:38.800 --> 0:26:42.840