Who knows why this happens

[Desert Bred]

When flicking a lighter (no gas applied)- little sparklets appear.
Who knows?

 

[bcp]

Video not working, but probably just like holding a piece of steel on a grinding wheel. Little glowing bits of metal make the sparks. They can start a fire it they are hot enough and land on something flammable.

Bruce

 

[Desert Bred]

Brilliant! And you didn't even see it.

 

[MossRoad]

Uh... sparks off of a lighter? Really? Someone made a video of sparks coming off a sparker on a lighter? I want my 10 seconds back.... actually, 30 seconds. I watched it three times. :mur:

 

[Desert Bred]

I'm missing something M-R.. just flicking the lighter in the direction of the fire sparkles. seriously.. i didn't know what it was but bcp gave a pretty good response.

 

[powerpace]

Flint.... In the lighter. It is what makes the spark. That lights the fuel. Is this new? Are we dealing with someone that doesn't understand fire?
The flint will make a spark even if the piece of flint is not a spark. When it hits a heated area it will look like a sparkler.
Experiment...... Heat a flint not in a lighter by holding it in pliars, then throw it against a hard surface. It's more than you would expect. No combustible near the area though for safety.

 

[burnieman]

Back in the late 70's I stared at a sparking lighter for hours. There was some synthetic help from Mr. Leary.

 

[2LaneCruzer]

It's really hard to tell what's going on from the video. I suppose everyone is familiar with the flint/steel sparking phenomenon; at least anyone who ever used a lighter should be. There is another phenomenon called a "flash point", the point where a substance will "flash" when heated and exposed to a flame. That could be part of the effect that you are seeing, i.e., the fuel in the fire could be giving off combustible gasses that are just at the right temperature to "flash", but not in sufficient quantities to sustain a flame.

 

[gwdixon]

I'm old enough to remember Zippo lighters (the metal flip top ones that used lighter fluid). Every so often you'd have to replace the flint in the lighter. They look like 1/4" pencil lead. Sold in packs of 5.

The lighter's rough wheel heats the flint by friction and causes small pieces to fly off as sparks. Disposable lighters use the same process.

 

[Desert Bred]

Yes there may be something else going on here. Sorry that the video doesn't capture it but next time you start a fire you have to try it.
Without depressing the gas just flick the lighter (from a few feet away) at the hot embers.

**away from the lighter and at the surface of the dust (or embers), a chain reaction of tiny stars light up bright white really quickly like firecrackers without sound.

I was thnking that the first response was a correct analysis of what is happening but the flint should be completely burned out by the time it were to hit the embers of the fire or maybe not. But check it out sometime I can't find out anything on the net about it.

 

[2LaneCruzer]

Yes there may be something else going on here. Sorry that the video doesn't capture it but next time you start a fire you have to try it.
Without depressing the gas just flick the lighter (from a few feet away) at the hot embers.

**away from the lighter and at the surface of the dust (or embers), a chain reaction of tiny stars light up bright white really quickly like firecrackers without sound.

I was thinking that the first response was a correct analysis of what is happening but the flint should be completely burned out by the time it were to hit the embers of the fire or maybe not. But check it out sometime I can't find out anything on the net about it.

Try it with one of the modern lighters that don't use the flint/steel method of ignition. The modern lighters I believe use the piezoelectric effect which produces an electric spark as opposed to a small glowing ember. In that case, there would be no "flint" to burn.

 

[hosspuller]

The sparks you see is the little bits of iron burning. Not all of the iron is ignited by the wheel. The fire ignites the remainder. Iron burns?? Try lighting a pinch of steel wool.

 

[Desert Bred]

(!) Ok that makes perfect sense as BCP stated and to make clear that all of the iron isn't ignited and is thrust out toward the flame or embers and as it lands lights. 2Lane- it is a regular BIC lighter.

 

[RobertBrown]

I'm still wondering why this thread happened......

 

[2LaneCruzer]

I'm still wondering why this thread happened......

“The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing.”
― Albert Einstein

 

[Desert Bred]

:thumbsup:

“The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing.”
― Albert Einstein

 

[RobertBrown]

I'll continue to be curious I suppose....

 

[RoyJackson]

I'm old enough to remember Zippo lighters (the metal flip top ones that used lighter fluid). Every so often you'd have to replace the flint in the lighter. They look like 1/4" pencil lead. Sold in packs of 5.

The lighter's rough wheel heats the flint by friction and causes small pieces to fly off as sparks. Disposable lighters use the same process.

Yep...and Zippos still make those lighters and they still spark.
What's being seen in the video is pieces of the flint flying off the lighter's sparker wheel. This is actually pretty common. Since it doesn't appear that the lighter is actually lighting the wick (or butane, since it looks more like a butane disposable lighter, the wheel is just sparking.
At least, that's what it looks like to me...

 

[Desert Bred]

dont look at the sparks from the lighter.. look at the quick sparks on the embers in front and away from the lighter

 

[Desert Bred]

ps. i think it's been answered so putting it to bed. And no it wasn't about what is flint.