Spontaneous combustion
Discussion
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-15032614
Pretty random.
Any PH experts have any ideas as to what may have happened?
Pretty random.
Any PH experts have any ideas as to what may have happened?
IIRC this phenomenon has been disproved more times that Global Warming.
In ever case that was revisited there was an cause of ignition.
They also proved that under the right conditions the fat in the body can act like the wax in a candle and allow for a very slow and complete burning of the body and very little else in the room.
AFAIK no one has ever just burst into flames while walking down the street or with witnesses.
One of the recent cases was eventually traced to an electric fire that caused the already dead body in a nearby chair to burn.
In ever case that was revisited there was an cause of ignition.
They also proved that under the right conditions the fat in the body can act like the wax in a candle and allow for a very slow and complete burning of the body and very little else in the room.
AFAIK no one has ever just burst into flames while walking down the street or with witnesses.
One of the recent cases was eventually traced to an electric fire that caused the already dead body in a nearby chair to burn.
Iceman82 said:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-15032614
Pretty random.
Any PH experts have any ideas as to what may have happened?
Yup.Pretty random.
Any PH experts have any ideas as to what may have happened?
A coroner publicly displayed that they exercised a depressingly low level of critical thinking.
People fall asleep with a lit cigarette or next to an open fire...or of course they 'spontaneously' combust, tough one to work out.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/158853.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/158853.stm
odyssey2200 said:
AFAIK no one has ever just burst into flames while walking down the street or with witnesses.
And if it's some kind of freak physiological action then it would surely happen to some degree in other living creatures.I can't say I've ever seen a dog/cat/pigeon in flames. Unless it was near bonfire night, somewhere near a council estate.
"Professor Bernard Knight noted that such reported cases were almost always near an open fireplace or chimney."
Just a thought, but what about a lightning strike of somekind? Jumping from the open fireplace to the head or something? Would probably knock the person out, stopping them from moving around whilst on fire, meaning the body stays where it's found?
Just a thought, but what about a lightning strike of somekind? Jumping from the open fireplace to the head or something? Would probably knock the person out, stopping them from moving around whilst on fire, meaning the body stays where it's found?
I've seen spontaneous combustion.
I used to live near the Thames and there was a route throught the docks and yards that kids used to follow. We were watching some blokes unload a coal lighter/barge by shovelling the stuff into the buckets of cranes. It had been raining for a few days prior but was dry at the time. One chap disloged a bit of coal and all of a sudden there were flames and everyone abandoned the boat.
This was, of course, very exciting for us lads but the workers were obviously quite used to it. They got out a hose and sprayed the coal.
One of the foremen there told me that it was water which caused the problem.
Not sure if that was right.
They loaded this coal into the hoppers without apparent concern. It then went into coal trucks.
The coal board did everything for you in those days: deliver the coal and burn it for you.
I used to live near the Thames and there was a route throught the docks and yards that kids used to follow. We were watching some blokes unload a coal lighter/barge by shovelling the stuff into the buckets of cranes. It had been raining for a few days prior but was dry at the time. One chap disloged a bit of coal and all of a sudden there were flames and everyone abandoned the boat.
This was, of course, very exciting for us lads but the workers were obviously quite used to it. They got out a hose and sprayed the coal.
One of the foremen there told me that it was water which caused the problem.
Not sure if that was right.
They loaded this coal into the hoppers without apparent concern. It then went into coal trucks.
The coal board did everything for you in those days: deliver the coal and burn it for you.
fathomfive said:
MX7 said:
Thats's too much phlogiston. 
De-phlogisticated air?Where the hell did I hear that this past week or two?
I do like Orac. "One aspect of quackery and woo that I've noticed over the years is that, if there's one thing quacks love, one thing they absolutely can't resist, one thing that draws them in like the proverbial moth to a flame, it's the ability to mix two or more different woos and make them into a new superwoo."
Edited by CommanderJameson on Friday 23 September 13:51
alangla said:
dave_s13 said:
I can't say I've ever seen a dog/cat/pigeon in flames. Unless it was near bonfire night, somewhere near a council estate.
I've heard a pigeon explode, does that count? Am I allowed to ignore the fact it landed on a 25kV cable right under a metal bridge? 
Lo and behold exactly this then happened 2 minutes after I said it. Pigeon lay dead at the boundary for a good half hour until someone doing a pitch invasion ran on and picked it up.
Livened things up no end.
One of the feilders spontaneously combusting would have been better though.
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