Oxidation can occur at any rate.  Rust, fire and explosion are all
examples of oxidation.  In my original post I was referring
specifically to fire, in an attempt to illustrate that the chemical
chain reaction can be interrupted without removing the fuel, the
oxidizing agent, or the heat.  A prime example of this is the
application of a small amount of Halon 1211 or 1301 on a diesel fire. 
The fuel is still there, the oxygen has not been displaced by the
(comparatively) small amount of Halon, and the fire has not been
significantly cooled.  And yet, miraculously, the fire is extinguished.
 The rate of the chemical reaction between the oxidizing and reducing
agents (in this case, oxygen from the air and the various hydrocarbons
in diesel fuel) has been reduced by a direct chemical interaction with
the Halon extinguishing agent.  This ultimately led to the development
of the "fire tetrahedron" in firefighting theory.  The removal of any
one of the three elements in the traditional "fire triangle" (fuel,
oxidizer, heat) will disrupt the chemical reaction and hence extinguish
the fire, but the chemical reaction itself may be targeted
independently of the removal of any of the other three.

	Halon would probably be the most common extinguishing agent in use
today (for its intended applications) if it didn't produce highly toxic
byproducts in a fire... So much for this "clean air" thread.

	Oh, and George, terribly sorry to disappoint you, but my communication
habits extend beyond the exclusive use of tetragrammatons, as I make a
conscious effort not to offend people.  But then, looking at your
posts, you probably have a good enough grip on them for everyone.  :)

-Sean


On Tue, 10 Sep 1996 18:25:38 -0700, gmiii@in*.co* wrote:

>
> Sean, if you have anything preventing the chemical chain reaction for 
>oxidation, you better have a good grip on The Tetragrammaton, not any 
>tetrahedron. I bet you do not know what that is. 
>
>On Tue, 10 Sep 96, "Sean T. Stevenson" <ststev@UV*.CA*> wrote:
>>On Mon, 9 Sep 1996 17:48:24 -0700, gmiii@in*.co* wrote:
>>
>>>
>>>  Discovery Channel, and I was wondering when myself. Three things are
needed 
>>>for combustion: heat, fuel , and rapid compression. 
>>
>>	Actually there are four necessary elements, the absence of any one of
>>which will prohibit combustion:  heat, fuel, an oxidizing agent (most
>>commonly oxygen, however combustion can be created in a Chlorine
>>atmosphere, for example), and a chemical chain reaction.  This fourth
>>element makes up the fire tetrahedron, and it is by eliminating this
>>chain reaction that a Halon fire extinguisher works.
>>
>>-Sean
>> 
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>
>George M. Irvine III
>DIR WKPP
>1400 SE 11 ST Ft Lauderdale, FL 33316
>954-493-6655 FAX 6698
>Email gmiiii@in*.co*
>
>--
>Send mail for the `techdiver' mailing list to `techdiver@terra.net'.
>Send subscription/archive requests to `techdiver-request@terra.net'.
>

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