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We Didn't Start the Fire
Manage episode 516881441 series 1301277
Content provided by BBC and BBC Radio 4. All podcast content including episodes, graphics, and podcast descriptions are uploaded and provided directly by BBC and BBC Radio 4 or their podcast platform partner. If you believe someone is using your copyrighted work without your permission, you can follow the process outlined here https://podcastplayer.com/legal.
It has been said that you can't start a fire without a spark, but as Hannah and Dara are about to discover, that's not true!
Welcome to the fiery phenomenon of spontaneous combustion, when something can ignite all on its own: no matches, no sparks, no external flame. It happens when certain materials heat themselves up internally through chemical or biological reactions, and if that carried on unchecked and the material gets hot enough, it can eventually ignite itself.
This process can occur in various everyday items such as piles of hay or grass clippings, oily rags and in certain instances lithium batteries; but there are also several useful chemical substances that autoignite when they come into contact with air - as Hannah, Dara and a wary BBC fire officer witness in the studio...
So how can we stop things regularly bursting into flames? How scared should we be about oiling floorboards and our increasingly battery-powered life? And is spontaneous human combustion really a thing? Our investigators are on the case.
To submit your question to the Curious Cases team, please email: [email protected]
Contributors: - Andrea Sella, Professor of inorganic chemistry at University College London - Emanuel ‘Big Manny’ Wallace, former science teacher now a science content creator - Matt Oakley, fire investigations officer at Surrey Fire and Rescue Service - Roger Byard, Emeritus Professor of pathology at the University of Adelaide and a senior specialist forensic pathologist at Forensic Science SA (FSSA)
Producer: Lucy Taylor Executive Producer: Alexandra Feachem
A BBC Studios Production
177 episodes
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Manage episode 516881441 series 1301277
Content provided by BBC and BBC Radio 4. All podcast content including episodes, graphics, and podcast descriptions are uploaded and provided directly by BBC and BBC Radio 4 or their podcast platform partner. If you believe someone is using your copyrighted work without your permission, you can follow the process outlined here https://podcastplayer.com/legal.
It has been said that you can't start a fire without a spark, but as Hannah and Dara are about to discover, that's not true!
Welcome to the fiery phenomenon of spontaneous combustion, when something can ignite all on its own: no matches, no sparks, no external flame. It happens when certain materials heat themselves up internally through chemical or biological reactions, and if that carried on unchecked and the material gets hot enough, it can eventually ignite itself.
This process can occur in various everyday items such as piles of hay or grass clippings, oily rags and in certain instances lithium batteries; but there are also several useful chemical substances that autoignite when they come into contact with air - as Hannah, Dara and a wary BBC fire officer witness in the studio...
So how can we stop things regularly bursting into flames? How scared should we be about oiling floorboards and our increasingly battery-powered life? And is spontaneous human combustion really a thing? Our investigators are on the case.
To submit your question to the Curious Cases team, please email: [email protected]
Contributors: - Andrea Sella, Professor of inorganic chemistry at University College London - Emanuel ‘Big Manny’ Wallace, former science teacher now a science content creator - Matt Oakley, fire investigations officer at Surrey Fire and Rescue Service - Roger Byard, Emeritus Professor of pathology at the University of Adelaide and a senior specialist forensic pathologist at Forensic Science SA (FSSA)
Producer: Lucy Taylor Executive Producer: Alexandra Feachem
A BBC Studios Production
177 episodes
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Similar to Curious Cases
A weekly programme that illuminates the mysteries and challenges the controversies behind the science that's changing our world.
…
continue reading
We take your questions about life, Earth and the universe to researchers hunting for answers at the frontiers of knowledge.
…
continue reading
The BBC brings you all the week's science news.
…
continue reading
Tim Harford explains - and sometimes debunks - the numbers and statistics used in political debate, the news and everyday life
…
continue reading
Twice a week, the Guardian brings you the latest science and environment news
…
continue reading
Topical comedy from the sharpest satirical minds in the business. Listen first on BBC Sounds, every Friday. Is the news driving you up the wall? You’re not alone. Let the comedians take the strain and work out what’s been funny this week. Features BBC Radio 4’s The News Quiz, Dead Ringers, The Naked Week and Too Long; Didn’t Read. Listen on BBC Sounds, seven days earlier than anywhere else, and subscribe to make sure that you don’t miss an episode.
…
continue reading
Unexplainable takes listeners right up to the edge of what we know…and then keeps on going. The Unexplainable team — Noam Hassenfeld, Julia Longoria, Byrd Pinkerton, and Meradith Hoddinott — tackles scientific mysteries, unanswered questions, and everything we learn diving into the unknown. New episodes Mondays and Wednesdays. From Vox and the Vox Media Podcast Network.
…
continue reading
A compilation of the latest Witness History programmes.
…
continue reading
Professor Jim Al-Khalili talks to leading scientists about their life and work, finding out what inspires and motivates them and asking what their discoveries might do for us in the future
…
continue reading
The news you know, the science you don’t. Unexpected Elements looks beyond everyday narratives to discover a goldmine of scientific stories and connections from around the globe. From Afronauts, to why we argue, to a deep dive on animal lifespans: see the world in a new way.
…
continue reading
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