Common Flames
In daily life, the vast majority of flames one encounters are those of organic compounds including wood, wax, fat, common plastics, propane, and gasoline. The constant-pressure adiabatic flame temperature of such substances in air is in a relatively narrow range around 1950 °C. This is because, in terms of stoichiometry, the combustion of an organic compound with n carbons involves breaking roughly 2n C–H bonds, n C–C bonds, and 1.5n O2 bonds to form roughly n CO2 molecules and n H2O molecules.
Because most combustion processes that happen naturally occur in the open air, there is nothing that confines the gas to a particular volume like the cylinder in an engine. As a result, these substances will burn at a constant pressure allowing the gas to expand during the process.
Read more about this topic: Adiabatic Flame Temperature
Famous quotes containing the words common and/or flames:
“For all Men would be Cowards if they durst:
And Honesty’s against all common sense—”
—John Wilmot, 2d Earl Of Rochester (1647–1680)
“The more people gathering firewood, the higher the flames will grow.”
—Chinese proverb.