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From: gadfly@ihuxn.UUCP (Gadfly)
Newsgroups: net.misc,net.garden
Subject: Re: Spontaneous combustion and people! (really of HAY; compost)
Message-ID: <1327@ihuxn.UUCP>
Date: Fri, 24-Jan-86 09:41:24 EST
Article-I.D.: ihuxn.1327
Posted: Fri Jan 24 09:41:24 1986
Date-Received: Sat, 25-Jan-86 08:07:11 EST
References: <3101@brl-tgr.ARPA> <197@prometheus.UUCP>
Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories
Lines: 23
Xref: watmath net.misc:9202 net.garden:913

--
> Give me a break!!!  The reason 'hay' can burn is that grass continues
> to 'live' after it's cut; this process, in accordance with the
> 2nd law of Thermodynamics, gives off waste heat.  The waste heat gets
> trapped in the bales, and the temperature rises!!! Voila - fire.
> Normally, spontaneous combustion refers to things like oily rags,
> which oxidize very slowly, but if the heat cannot escape easily...
> 
> Ihor Kinal
> P.S.  Supposedly, pouring water on burning hay only makes the problem
> worse, since it just speeds up the grass's natural processes...

It's not any "living" processes of the grass, which is dead, but of
bacteria (anaerobic variety, I believe).  The hay is essentially
fermenting, and thereby heating up.  The water content in the cut
hay is a critical factor in the rate of fermentation.
-- 
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