 |
| Introduction to Physics and Chemistry of Combustion |
Introduction to Physics and Chemistry of Combustion
Preface
Combustion is a truly interdisciplinary subject, and as such it requires merging of different areas of science: hydrodynamics, chemical kinetic, thermodynamics, statistical physics, kinetic theory, and quantum theory. Due to such a com- plexity the in-depth scientific investigation of combustion is a recent phenom- enon, even though it has always had a great impact on all types of human activities.
The elements of combustion, such as flame and explosion are, of course, known for a long time but somewhat surprisingly their first analytical description has been obtained not such a long time ago and for only a limited range of conditions. A more coherent picture has begun to emerge in recent times, as a result of a number of experimental and theoretical studies, sponsored by energy production and industrial needs.
Combustion has a wide variety of uses. Chemical combustion is used for energy’s production in power plants, gas turbines and engines. Similar process of thermonuclear combustion is a heat source for the Sun and stars. Recently, astronomers were using exploding stars known as Type Ia supernovas as a cosmic standard light markers to analyze the fate of the universe.
They found that the universe expansion is speeding up rather than slowing down, whereas previously it was expected that gravity would be slowing down the expansion. Combustion is involved in explosions for both industrial and military purposes.
The humanity cannot live without combustion processes but they also have harmful effects, such as unwanted fire and explosions, pollutants and greenhouse gases, which cause global warming.