The Hidden Complexities of the Simple Match

2014 APS/DFD Milton van Dyke Award Winner
Authors:
Victor Miller, Stanford University
Matthew Tilghman, Stanford University
Ronald Hanson, Stanford University
dx.doi.org/10.1...
Fluid dynamics and combustion are beautiful, complex, and ubiquitous, but often times, the natural beauty of these every-day flows and flames are invisible to our eyes. By using high-speed video and schlieren imaging, we image a strike-anywhere match being lit and then blown out, visualizing the otherwise invisible, startlingly beautiful combustion and turbulent phenomena. From start to finish, the entire video took less than two seconds to film, but high-speed imaging slows down the events so we can observe them; schlieren imaging enables us to visualize the hot combustion products mixing with the cold breath, which highlights the complexity and huge range of scales in turbulence. With this video, we aim to not only entertain and wow, but to also spark curiosity and interest in combustion and fluid dynamics.
See more videos in the 2014 APS/DFD Gallery of Fluid Motion gfm.aps.org/mee...

[@apsphysics]

Researchers use high-speed video and schlieren imaging to show the combustion and turbulent phenomena of a strike-anywhere match being light and then blown out.
This video was selected as a 2014 APS/DFD Milton van Dyke Award Winner from the APS Division of Fluid Dynamics Gallery of Fluid Motion.
#fluiddynamics

[@pozablo]

why does blowing on a flame put it out, instead of just feeding it more oxygen in a way that causes it to turn sideways?

[@ysireawe]

I think it has something to do with the temperature. Fire usually needs 3 things to burn: fuel, oxygen and heat. Blowing on it takes the heat away from the reaction. Also, I don't think the oxygen for the reaction at the tip of the match comes from air. It probably comes from the chemicals in the match tip.

[@MrLfpNYC]

How cool would it be to see someone fart on a match using this imaging technology? That's turbulence.

[@DanielGomez-pf7xy]

Interesting face appears in the upper gases in 1:55 of the video