Spontaneous combustion
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Spontaneous combustion can have several meanings:
- The self-ignition, or apparent self-ignition, and burning of any mass; often of highly flammable materials, such as a pile of oily rags; see combustion.
- Spontaneous human combustion is the alleged phenomenon of a human being suddenly bursting into flames.
- Pyrophoric materials can ignite spontaneously under certain conditions:
- *Some types of coal are susceptible to spontaneous ignition.
- *Some alloys, such as ferrocerium for lighter "flints" and the hardened depleted uranium used in anti-armor weapons, have a low ignition temperature when finely divided. Scraping such an alloy tends to create a large number of sparks, and pulverizing it can lead to a fierce metal fire.
- *Other substances such as caesium, rubidium or silanes can ignite spontaneously when contacting air. See pyrophoricity.
- *Sodium metal ignites spontaneously when placed in water.
In popular culture
- "Spontaneous Combustion" is an episode of the South Park television series.
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