Exploding Flour

In this activity, students observe the teacher igniting flour when it is in a basic combustion chamber.

Combustion chamber

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Diagram of a combustion chamber as used in the exploding flour activity.

Rights: The University of Waikato Te Whare Wānanga o Waikato

By the end of this activity, students should be able to:

• understand how surface area of fuel affects fire behaviour – the more surface area, the more quickly ignition will take place.

Download the Word file (see link below) for:

• introduction/background notes

• what you need

• what to do

• scientific explanation.