Omhra I am trying to figure out if we are saying the same thing or something different.
A sharp piece of flint (or other mineral with the hardness of 7 or greater) being held in the jaws of the cock, then falling forward under the pressure of the spring, scraping the frizzen creating sparks, is no different than using a steel striker and a piece of flint with char cloth or punk wood to create embers. The flint needs to be sharp to scrape the minute pieces metal off the harden face of the steel. "The pyrophoricity of the carbon steel results in the metal shavings oxidizing in the air becoming molten." from Wikipedia. As I understand it the face being struck needs to be harden, but softer than the stone, so only those minute shavings of steel are scraped off (friction) creating the sparks which are molten pieces of the metal. I am guessing, but the higher the carbon content of the metal being used increases the volatility of the metal when scraped producing more and hotter sparks. The less carbon fewer sparks are created. The softer the metal the flint gouges the metal instead of shaving/scraping the metal. DANNY
We are saying something very similar, but from different angle, and at different microscope magnification.
- Plasma born from a "flame" is mostly super heated air, while most of the same air carries and oxidizes the paraffin vapors as it convects, giving it its shape. We see only a small portion of the emissions from it.
- A spark is generated when the molecular structure is strained past its "limit" and molecular bonds break, or an activation threshold is reached by pressure.
- Rising the temperature of the potassium nitrate above 336F, by any means, will begin the separation of the Potassium from the molecule and scramble the Oxygen bonds to the Nitrogen, and its own oxidation into K nitrite. Fueling the rest of the combustibles.
Back at the frizzen at the moment of impact.
- Impact creates heat.
- The heat stems from the bulk kinetic force that is transferred at the focus point of impact of the materials.
- The transference of energy is bidirectional and manifests from the imparted molecular motion (principally) and bond separation break (secondarily but more intense, brief, and microscopic in this case) from both materials.
You could substitute
flint with other materials to strike
steel. The results may not be optimal as they will shatter and dull-up making the energy transfer less efficient. You could also strike it
into something other than steel, but it would also be less efficient.
Steel bristles with carbon.
Because carbon oxidizes, it is good to flash it (boil it, vaporize it, burn it) oxidise it into plasma with something like flint with a proper energy impact to decouple molecules at the right scale and provide the excess energy to get it going.
The energy release from the rock crystal into the steel crystal make the spark.
The genesis at the point of impact comes from both materials.
The recipe is good to get concentrated "heat balls" to the pan.
Apologies for being so long winded.
Reminds me of something I heard once that scientists aren't really sure what flame is - whether it's a chemical reaction or an electrical phenomenon.
