LA_MERC_LaTech
November 21st, 2002, 12:09 PM
Every once in a while, I get one of these wacky thoughts into my head that just make complete sense to me, but to other people, I look like either a complete idiot, or a raving lunatic (I won’t argue either point on this subject at this time!). One such thought that I have had for a number of years is about fire. Simply put: Fire is alive, or better yet, Fire exhibits all the necessary components of life.
There are five basic questions that Biologists must answer to determine whether something is alive or not. They are: 1) Does this item move? 2) Does it ingest food and excrete waste? 3) Does it react to outside stimuli? 4) Does it grow? and 5) Does it reproduce? I will now apply these 5 questions to fire, and will show you why fire, I believe, is alive.
Question #1: Does fire move? Yes, fire will move based upon where it’s “life sustaining” food is. You can cease the movement of a spreading fire by removing the kindling or burnable substances from an area, thus making it impossible for the fire to move in that area.
Question #2: Does fire ingest food and excrete waste (byproduct of it’s food)? Yes. Fire will consume a house in minutes if the right conditions are met. What is left behind? Ashes, smoke and carbon dioxide are left in the fire’s wake. To eat something, you essentially change the makeup of it. Fire changes wood into ash and soot. Fire changes the air that we breathe into carbon dioxide (it’s not as simple as this, I realize, but you get the basic idea).
Question #3: Does fire react to outside stimuli? Of course it does! Have you ever thrown water on a fire? What does it do? It dies. Also, if you take oxygen out of the area that a fire is in, will it not also die? Take away the food (combustible materials) of a fire, and will it not also die? Of course it will. Also, if a fire is racing towards a river, it will change directions based upon where more food is etc.
Question #4: Does it grow? Well, I think this is the simplest of the 5 questions. Of course fires grow. I can take a match right now and start a small fire. If I continue to “feed” it, it will get larger. If I quit tending it, it also has the ability to grow on it’s own, as long as there is enough food to sustain it.
Question #5: Does it reproduce? The trickiest of the 5 questions, but, as with all the others, Fire also exhibits this trait of life. Fire will also spawn smaller fires around it through the use of fire-like spores that I will call “sparks”. These “sparks” will fly through the air as long as the material that they are on will support life. Upon meeting another body with more combustible materials, the “spark” will then ignite another fire…thus asexual reproduction (same thing that some lichens will do through the use of spores).
As you can see, this is a very simple idea, once you look at all the facts.
Thank you for your time.
La_MERC_LaTech
There are five basic questions that Biologists must answer to determine whether something is alive or not. They are: 1) Does this item move? 2) Does it ingest food and excrete waste? 3) Does it react to outside stimuli? 4) Does it grow? and 5) Does it reproduce? I will now apply these 5 questions to fire, and will show you why fire, I believe, is alive.
Question #1: Does fire move? Yes, fire will move based upon where it’s “life sustaining” food is. You can cease the movement of a spreading fire by removing the kindling or burnable substances from an area, thus making it impossible for the fire to move in that area.
Question #2: Does fire ingest food and excrete waste (byproduct of it’s food)? Yes. Fire will consume a house in minutes if the right conditions are met. What is left behind? Ashes, smoke and carbon dioxide are left in the fire’s wake. To eat something, you essentially change the makeup of it. Fire changes wood into ash and soot. Fire changes the air that we breathe into carbon dioxide (it’s not as simple as this, I realize, but you get the basic idea).
Question #3: Does fire react to outside stimuli? Of course it does! Have you ever thrown water on a fire? What does it do? It dies. Also, if you take oxygen out of the area that a fire is in, will it not also die? Take away the food (combustible materials) of a fire, and will it not also die? Of course it will. Also, if a fire is racing towards a river, it will change directions based upon where more food is etc.
Question #4: Does it grow? Well, I think this is the simplest of the 5 questions. Of course fires grow. I can take a match right now and start a small fire. If I continue to “feed” it, it will get larger. If I quit tending it, it also has the ability to grow on it’s own, as long as there is enough food to sustain it.
Question #5: Does it reproduce? The trickiest of the 5 questions, but, as with all the others, Fire also exhibits this trait of life. Fire will also spawn smaller fires around it through the use of fire-like spores that I will call “sparks”. These “sparks” will fly through the air as long as the material that they are on will support life. Upon meeting another body with more combustible materials, the “spark” will then ignite another fire…thus asexual reproduction (same thing that some lichens will do through the use of spores).
As you can see, this is a very simple idea, once you look at all the facts.
Thank you for your time.
La_MERC_LaTech