- Author
-
Lyons, J. W.
- Title
- Fire.
- Coporate
- National Bureau of Standards, Gaithersburg, MD
- Book or Conf
- Fire,
Scientific American Books, Inc., New York,
178 p.,
1985
- Keywords
-
candles
|
chimneys
|
stoves
|
fireplaces
|
combustion chemistry
|
fire models
|
flame research
|
room fires
|
fire tests
|
fluid mechanics
- Abstract
- Mythic tales from all cultures portray fire as a revered symbol of life. In the here and now, society fears fire, like earthquakes and floods, for its destructive power. To anyone who has experienced the horror of unwanted fire, it is difficult to prove that there has been any progress made in the prevention, control, and fighting of fire. Yet controlled fires serve ech American yearly with the electrical and mechanical energy of 100 slaves. In Fire, John Lyons of the National Bureau of Standards examines fire in its friendly and unfriendly forms. Citing such examples as the experiments of Faraday that led to the replacement of the candly by the electric bulb, Lyons presents his view of fire as an object of instruction - and fascination - in physics and chemistry. From the intricately balanced steady state of the candle flame to the hearth, the furnace, the combustion chamber, and finally to the primal violence of fire out of control, Lyons engages us in a discussion of the fundamental physics and chemistry of flames, of heat transfer, of fluid mechanics, of gas dynamics, and of materials. John Lyons tells what he and his colleagues in fire research are doint to protect their fellow citizens from fire, sharing with us the results of research with full-scale experimental fires in model rooms and houses. Mathematical models bring this understanding together in computer simulations that predict with uncreasing acuracy the course of experimental fires.