Is this a myth or are there proven facts of cases of spontaneous combustion of a person and peat? There are many points of view on these phenomena. We will look at the most interesting of the existing ones.
Spontaneous combustion is a phenomenon in which a person ignites without an external source of fire. This is a paranormal phenomenon, unproven by scientists. Some sources say that after spontaneous combustion, a pile of ash remains, others claim that some parts of the body and whole clothes remain. Eyewitnesses prove that a flame literally bursts out of a person’s mouth, and the torso and head are charred to ashes in a matter of minutes. Some say the flame is blue, others say it's yellow.
All types of spontaneous combustion have a common feature - ignition without an external source of fire. The body burns faster than with a normal incineration. Statistics show that the phenomenon manifests itself indoors, and the victimsolder men are more common. To date, there have been no reported cases among crowds and in open areas. In addition, spontaneous combustion has not been recorded among animals.
First spontaneous combustion
Spontaneous human combustion has been known since ancient times, but this phenomenon began to be included in official documents only in the 18th century: the stories were considered reliable enough to be reflected in police reports.
The first mention of spontaneous combustion is even in medieval literature. Scientist Thomas Bartholin in 1641 in his writings describes the details of the death of the knight Polonius Worst, who died in the 16th century, who drank wine and died of spontaneous combustion.
Divine Intervention
Christians considered spontaneous combustion to be punishment for breaking a deal with the devil.
Interestingly, the cause of death in 1725 of the Parisian Madame Millet (drunk alcoholic) was listed as "Divine Intervention". She, while in bed with her husband, burned to the ground, and the mattress remained almost intact!
In those days, based on the way of life of dead people, the cause of spontaneous combustion was called alcoholism. But is this the only sign?
Spontaneous human combustion is described in many films and literature, but Charles Dickens made it famous in his novel Bleak House.
Many representatives of the scientific world deny spontaneous human combustion, but at the moment there are 120 officiallyreported cases of spontaneous combustion.
Popular theories
There are several theories for spontaneous combustion.
Most common theories:
- Alcoholism. With a very large amount of alcohol in the blood, a person can ignite from an ordinary spark from a cigarette, but many of the deceased were not alcoholics and did not smoke! During experiments on mice, this theory was abandoned: they injected dead mice with 70% alcohol and tried to burn it, but nothing came of it.
- Effect of a human candle. According to this theory, there is a lot of fat in the human body, which performs the function of paraffin and contributes to the combustion process. It is known that mostly thin people burned, but this theory is also not reliable: there is no instantaneous combustion, the body burns for several hours. The experiment was carried out on dead pigs dressed in woolen clothing.
- Ignition from static electricity. The human body is capable of accumulating static electricity, and a person does not notice small discharges up to 3 thousand volts. Under certain atmospheric conditions, a large amount of charge can accumulate in the human body, but for spontaneous combustion to occur, the electrostatic discharge must be more than 40 thousand volts! By the way, in order for a person to burn to ashes, the spontaneous combustion temperature must be above 1700 ° C. Even in the crematorium, the burning temperature is 1300 °C.
- Acetone hypothesis. With a decrease in glucose, the main source of energy in the human body, biochemical processes begin in the blood, contributing to the production of acetone, the most combustible substance.produced by our body.
Scientist Brian Ford in a number of experiments came closest to explaining the causes of spontaneous combustion. He dressed pork marinated in acetone in clothes and set fire to it. The carcasses burned in less than half an hour, with the limbs and some parts of the clothing remaining intact. The scientist explained that less acetone accumulates in the limbs, and called static electricity from clothing the cause of spontaneous combustion!
But all these theories do not explain the causes of spontaneous combustion!
Theory of "Black Holes"
There are several more theories explaining SCH (Spontaneous Human Combustion).
Yakov Zel'dovich, a Soviet academician, discovered natural microscopic black holes in 1971 and called them otons. Black holes exist in the depths of the earth, not only in space, and emit an enormous amount of energy. Some scientists are sure that it is otons that cause spontaneous spontaneous combustion of a person, interacting with internal otons when they collide with the human body. This provokes a thermal explosion, in which energy is not released, but absorbed, generating a high combustion temperature. As a result, the body burns instantly.
Theory of time, nuclear reaction and electrical permeability
Japanese scientist Hirachi Igo believes that the cause of spontaneous combustion is a change in the course of time in the human body.
When functioning properly, the human body radiates heat generated into space. If it happenschronological failure in internal processes, then the heat will not have time to escape into space and the person will burn out.
Some scientists believe that thermonuclear reaction is the source of life for a living cell. When cells fail, an uncontrolled chain reaction occurs, releasing a huge amount of energy and literally incinerating a person.
As you know, the human heart works by generating impulses, but each has a different electrical permeability: if a 220-volt discharge does no harm to someone, then for some it is certain death. So spontaneous combustion is quite possible, doctors say. For example, if lightning strikes somewhere nearby, then a person with increased electrical conductivity may burn to the ground.
From all of the above, we conclude that spontaneous combustion is an unproven phenomenon, the explanation for which scientists have not yet found, but research in this area continues. We hope that soon scientists will get to the bottom of the truth and tell the world the reasons for these phenomena.
Peat formation
Spontaneous combustion of peat is easier to explain.
Peat has been formed over thousands of years in swampy areas from the remains of biomass: roots and branches of shrubs, lichens, grass, moss, bark, which have not decomposed completely due to the inaccessibility of air and high humidity. In different regions, the biochemical properties of peat differ. The rate of decomposition is influenced by fungi, the climate and environment of the area where the process of plant decay took place.
Usepeat
Peat is a combustible mineral used in various spheres of human life. For example, in the production of medicines, as a fuel (peat is called the precursor of coal), in agriculture for fertilizing the soil and mulching, as bedding for livestock.
Peat mining
There are several ways to extract peat:
- hydraulic;
- lumpy;
- carved;
- milling.
In the hydraulic method, the peat layer is washed away with a high-pressure water jet, cleaned of wood residues and, after the accumulator pool, delivered to special leveled areas for drying.
The lump method is similar to the milling method, but peat is pressed under pressure in a cylinder, squeezed out through rectangular nozzles and left to dry on the field.
The carved method is the manual or mechanical cutting of peat bricks.
Also, one of the methods of peat extraction is the framing method, in which the peat is loosened by tractor attachments to a depth of 2 meters and dries on the field. It is turned over for better drying, and then rolled into rolls, which are delivered to a special site, where they are formed into heaps.
Milled peat is considered to be the most flammable.
Conditions for spontaneous combustion of peat
Scientists identify several reasons: genetic characteristics, peat composition, storage conditions, humidity, environmental conditions, shelf life and breathability.
When increasingtemperature inside the stack is above +50 °C, chemical decomposition of peat occurs, microbiological processes begin, and if air gets inside, spontaneous combustion will occur.
Researchers claim that spontaneous combustion of peat provokes a violation of storage conditions.
In this regard, scientists have come to the conclusion that spontaneous combustion of peat is a myth!
Causes of peat fires
Other sources say that peat spontaneous combustion is a process that occurs only in peat mined and stacked for drying or drained, worked out by a swamp when its surface is overheated.
Peat can ignite due to microorganisms: over time, their metabolic products accumulate, which lead to overheating of peat and an increase in temperature to +65 °С. If it rises, then the peat will turn into semi-coke and ignite when interacting with oxygen.
The causes of peat fires are considered to be lightning strikes, a ground fire, a long period of drought or a human factor: thrown matches, burning grass, a spark from an unextinguished fire.
The combustion process does not occur with open fire, but with smoldering and extends for many hundreds of meters in the lower layers. Peat smolders for years, it is possible to detect the fires only by the emitted smoke.
So, spontaneous combustion of peat - reality or fiction?
Despite all the assumptions and theories, lately we are increasingly hearing in the press about frequent andprolonged peat fires in the Central part of Russia, the Siberian and Ural federal districts. And this happens in hot dry seasons with the direct influence of the human factor.
