energy

Radiation simply means the emission (sending out) of energy from a source. It could be a speaker that emits sound waves, or the sun that emits...

A simple technique for looking for breast cancer involves feeling the breasts for an unusual lump which could be a tumour, but this is like feeling...

Learning to manage this chemical reaction What actually is fire? How does it start? How and why does it behave in different ways? How can we...

Fire is generally portrayed as frightening and destructive by the media. Humans have increasingly been able to manage fire by improved detection ability and improved fire...

These are some common misunderstandings about fire. They acknowledge that children have made reasonable sense of the ideas based on their experience and should be validated...

In this activity, students develop critical thinking through ethical discussion of the question: Should chemical fire retardants be added to furniture? By the end of this...

In this activity, students read online articles related to fire in Antarctica and discuss why fire is a big hazard there. By the end of this...

In this activity, students discuss a number of scenarios involving fire risk, become familiar with the school fire safety plan and create a plan for their...

In this activity, students identify and define fire risks, outdoors and indoors, using a provided image of a rural scene and an indoor scene they draw...

In this activity, students observe the teacher igniting flour when it is in a basic combustion chamber. By the end of this activity, students should be...

In this activity, students observe an empty tea bag that is set alight. The burning causes a column of hot air and gas from combustion to...

In this activity, students investigate different ways of extinguishing fire and how this is related to their knowledge of the fire triangle and fire chemistry. By...

In this activity, students cover a lit candle with an inverted jar in a saucer of water. The flame expires and the water rises up in...

In this activity, students take a closer look at a candle flame as an example of a flame that occurs in most natural fires and observe...

In this activity, students use drama to model science ideas about atoms and molecules, transferring heat and the process of combustion. By the end of this...

Position: Research Leader at Olsson Fire & Risk. Field: Fire engineering. When we first interviewed Mike he was Associate Professor, Department of Civil and Natural Resources...

Position: Extreme Fire Project Leader, Scion Field: Rural fire research Grant was interested in science and the natural environment at school. This continued at university, where...

Position: Resilience to Wildfires Project Leader, Scion Field: Social research Lisa Langer is a social research scientist. One of her current areas of focus is social...

Position: Emeritus Professor, Department of Civil and Natural Resources Engineering, University of Canterbury. Principal research engineer, (FSRI). Field: Fire engineering, dynamics and research. Professor Charley Fleischmann’s...

Position: Currently Director of Fisheries Management, Ministry for Primary Industries. Previously Fire scientist, Scion. Field: Rural (vegetation) fire behaviour and management. Stuart began his career by...

Chemical fire retardants help delay or prevent combustion, but there are potential health and environmental issues around the use and production of the chemicals, and the...

Fires behave differently. Some burn slowly and evenly; others are extremely hot, burning fiercely and quickly. Different fires have different coloured flames. Some fires start easily;...

Most of us use the word ‘heat’ to mean something that feels warm, but science defines heat as the flow of energy from a warm object...

What is smoke and why do some fires seem to have more smoke than others? Smoke is a collection of tiny solid, liquid and gas particles....