What State Of Matter Is Fire?

Look back to literally anywhere in time where there are humans, and you’ll find fire. Fire has been an integral part of our society for ages, and thus it only makes sense that we’re able to understand what it is.

However, in a discussion — or argument, depending on how you phrase it — I got into with a friend the other day was asking what state of matter fire is. There are four fundamental properties:

• Gas
• Liquid
• Solid
• …and plasma

It’s not a solid, so we can rule that out right off the bat, but it’s not really a liquid. Would we consider fire a gas? Not exactly. Probably not plasma, either. That’s when it comes to asking where we officially classify fire.

The first thing to do to officially break this down is to figure out what the major properties are of each of the states, and looking at which of those properties fire is able to qualify as. By doing this, we’ll be able to get a basic idea of where fire would make sense.

Finding Flaming Hot Properties

Well, let’s start by comparing fire to a gas. Most gases have no fixed shape or volume. Fire doesn’t really have a shape, and the volume expands or contracts depending on what you add to it (in this case, oxygen). So it’s a…