Quote:
Originally Posted by coliver
Just the point of ignition of a particular object or the temperature at which it burns up or disinigrates. Just like a tree will burn at a certain flashpoint. As long as its temperature is somewhere below that flashpoint it exists as matter. When it burns up then I suggest the energy expeled reverts back to kinetic energy in the atmosphere? Not the wood itself but the energy created or dissapated by the fuel.
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Combustion produces heat, which is energy, and the results of the combustion have an extremely slightly lower mass that the inputs to combustion, and yes, that's equal via E=MC^2 to the energy released in the combusition.
Again, the amount of mass reduction is so ridiculously slight it's almost not even measurable.
However, combustion is the combination of a fuel source with an oxidizer, which isn't the same as lightening, which heats the air, charages it, turning it to plasma, for a brief moment in time. The air doesn't actually combust.