the.com/combustible
Nature's way of saying everything is fine until suddenly it absolutely is not.
means Capable of catching fire and burning easily; describes a substance prone to ignition.
from From Latin 'combustibilis,' built on 'comburere' — to burn up completely — which combines 'com-' (an intensifying prefix, roughly 'thoroughly') with 'urere,' to burn. It reached English through Medieval Latin and Old French in the late Middle Ages. Curiously, that 'b' in 'comburere' is something of an intruder: classical Latin had 'com-' plus 'urere,' and the consonant seems to have crept in by association with 'bustum,' a funeral pyre — fittingly enough for a word about things going up in flames.
- flour danger
- Grain dust explosions level industrial mills regularly
- flash point
- The temperature where things decide to ignite
- oxygen needed
- No air, no flame, no matter how hot
- spontaneous combustion
- Oily rags can ignite themselves in piles
- human fear
- Fire is among our oldest evolutionary terrors
black powder — gunpowder mixture of charcoal, saltpeter, and sulfur used since 9th-century china
trinitrotoluene — tnt explosive compound synthesized in 1863, military standard since wwi
thermite — aluminum and metal oxide mixture reaching 2500°c, used in welding and military applications
rocket propellant rp-1 — kerosene-based fuel used in saturn v and spacex falcon 9 rockets