Fire

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Fire is a chemical reaction that gives off light and heat. Fire happens when a material rapidly oxidizes, or loses electrons, and releases a great amount of energy. Flames are only the portion of the fire that gives off visible light.

Fire is sometimes useful, but also very dangerous because it can cause houses, trees and other things to burn to ashes. Forest fires are very harmful. They can destroy a huge area in a matter of minutes. Every year people die by accidents from fire.

Fire can be started by heating a material in many different ways. Once the material is heated past a temperature called the ignition point, it will start to burn, beginning a fire. Some common ways to start a fire include rubbing sticks together very rapidly, making sparks by hitting flint with steel, or using matches or a lighter. The Sun does not make fire. Instead, it crushes together hydrogen atoms to release energy through a process called nuclear fusion.