I wanted to find a source to cite, but the commonness of "fire" and "coal" make that a task more trouble than it would be worth. I also might be using a term that is not universal.
When a fire burns with a lot of oxygen, it burns big, hot, and wild. When that kind of fire is soothed by allowing it to burn for a while, but with regular, small feedings of fresh wood, it calms down, becoming a slow, steady burn. That kind of fire is hotter than the wild flames. (I'm mean only bonfire/fireplace type fires. Wildfire and chemical fires -- like housefires -- are different beasts.) It becomes a fire of coals with flames that are blue, purple or invisible. Then if you stop feeding it, it continues to burn without flame while still producing a lot of heat. That is what I mean by coaling. It's quiet and steady. It's very hard to put out. It jumps back into flame easily with the introduction of fresh fuel. It's what I think hearth fires were like in the days when homes were heated with fire. It the kind of fire that you can think is safe to sleep next to.
Not a tame lion, but not the man-eater that the quiz makers depict.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
branchandroot
no subject
Date: 2006-12-22 12:53 am (UTC)When a fire burns with a lot of oxygen, it burns big, hot, and wild. When that kind of fire is soothed by allowing it to burn for a while, but with regular, small feedings of fresh wood, it calms down, becoming a slow, steady burn. That kind of fire is hotter than the wild flames. (I'm mean only bonfire/fireplace type fires. Wildfire and chemical fires -- like housefires -- are different beasts.) It becomes a fire of coals with flames that are blue, purple or invisible. Then if you stop feeding it, it continues to burn without flame while still producing a lot of heat. That is what I mean by coaling. It's quiet and steady. It's very hard to put out. It jumps back into flame easily with the introduction of fresh fuel. It's what I think hearth fires were like in the days when homes were heated with fire. It the kind of fire that you can think is safe to sleep next to.
Not a tame lion, but not the man-eater that the quiz makers depict.