To: Raymond Duray who wrote (5731 ) 3/19/2004 7:17:41 PM From: Michelino Read Replies (1) | Respond to Oh I'd file that report on the shelf right next to the "bumblebees can't fly" theory of aerodynamics. The analysis takes an obfuscating journey into chemistry in order to impress the true believer and then constructs a straw man of uniform combustible floor layers which can only rise to comparably low temperatures. One clue to the dense puzzle presented by him (her/whoever unaccredited) is that different substances rise to different temperatures in reaction to the same amount of heat or energy. Even in the same small apartment fire, temperatures can vary 1200 degrees F within 8 eight feet. On top of which: the understanding that the chain reaction of combustion includes all the other materials that were ignited seems to be absent from the author's brain. Seeing how one match head which, on the basis of its own potential energy(*), cannot completely melt an ice cube but can ignite a forest fire or a common house fire that can rise to temperatures above 1500 degrees F ,the author might consult an expert who understands: what or who is fuel is (drumroll) a matter of degree. But I know more than I will say at the risk of anyone believing that I really might have a degree in physics. Right now, I have no desire to check over your buddy's work in order to find a missing exponent or three in his math, but a gold star goes to who does. Once the article is cleaned up, passes peer review and the DVD comes out, I'll have a better understanding of whether the author was really joking or was, perhaps, yet another misunderstood French auteur. In the mean time, I think that this site pbs.org (without the farcical, polemical commentary intersperses with it that has been presented in earlier links) is a much better explanation for what happened.
