Combustion Reactions

Combustion reactions (informally known as simply burning) are chemical reactions in which a substance is reacted exothermically with molecular oxygen (O₂) at a high temperature. Combustion reactions can either be complete or incomplete.^[1]

In ideal circumstances, all reactions would be complete; or in other words, oxygen would fully oxidize the other reactants. For example, a combustion reaction involving a hydrocarbon (any molecule consisting only of carbon and hydrogen) would result in only carbon dioxide (CO₂) and water (H₂O) as products (possibly with excess oxygen). The general form of complete saturated hydrocarbon combustion is as follows:

In the real world, however, combustion reactions rarely go to completion. This is due to imperfect conditions, such as insufficient oxygen or low ignition temperature.^[1] Incomplete combustion results in additional products which are not fully oxidized. For example, an incomplete combustion reaction involving a hydrocarbon would include carbon monoxide (CO) as a product, along with hydrogen (H₂), carbon dioxide and water.

, where

• X is the fraction of carbon completely combusted
• Y is the fraction of hydrogen completely combusted
• m is the molar ratio of oxygen fed to the system, equal to

See also[edit]

• Activation Energy

References[edit]

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1} What is combustion?