ABSTRACT
This chapter demonstrates knowledge of fire chemistry and physics beyond the high school level as required by NFPA 1033 include appreciating the relationship between fire and energy. NFPA 1033 requires that a fire investigator have knowledge beyond the high school level of "fire chemistry". The combustion of hydrogen with oxygen to produce water is the simplest combustion reaction and was one of the first gaseous reactions studied. Melting and vaporization are endothermic changes. Freezing and condensation are exothermic. Gases are the simplest form of matter in that the individual components, atoms, or more commonly, molecules, are not tightly bound to one another. Learning any discipline, scientific or otherwise, first requires a mastery of the nomenclature, or terminology, of the discipline. Gases exist in the gaseous state at standard temperature and pressure, while vapors are the gas phase of substances that are liquids or solids at standard temperature and pressure.
