Photosynthesis converts sunlight into chemical bonds; a fire converts the stored chemical energy into heat and light. Really fast.Other fun facts about fire here. I had read about the Peshtigo Fire in Wisconsin in 1871, which started on the same day as the Chicago Fire but got little publicity though it killed 1,200 people, but I hadn't heard about either the Sultana steamship fire of 1965, which killed 1,500 recently released Union prisoners, or the Great Dragon fire of 1987, which consumed 20 million acres of forest in China and the Soviet Union.
That is a great quote.
ReplyDeleteAs a trivial aside, the best-known historian of wildland and forest fires in North America and much of the world is a gentleman named Stephen Pyne. I've never been sure if it is a happy coincidence or further proof that G-d has a sense of humor.
ReplyDeleteLittleRed1