On: How great was the Great Oxidation Event?

[BestHackerOnHN]

> "the only reason we can have something as fundamental as FIRE is because of living things" is a bit of a mindblowing realization.

I am fairly confident living things did not create FIRE.

[andrewla → BestHackerOnHN]

Well, we (broadly speaking) did not create the concept of a plasma phase of matter, but fire as we know it is only possible because of free oxygen. Fire, for the most part, is just another name for rapid oxidation.

Even some things that can burn without air (e.g. magnesium) typically only burn because they are so hot that they cause H2O to separate.

Obviously stars exist, so there are other ways of getting to plasma, but oxygen is what makes terrestrial fires possible.

So yes -- living things created fire!

[kadoban → andrewla]

> Even some things that can burn without air (e.g. magnesium) typically only burn because they are so hot that they cause H2O to separate.

I'm not positive about magnesium, but also most of them only burn because we've converted them to materials that don't exist in nature. Eg it'll only be found as oxides (ie already burnt) and then we put some energy or chemicals in to get the form we want.

If it _can_ oxidize as found in nature, there has to be some good reason it didn't already do it over ~billions of years.

[bregma → BestHackerOnHN]

Well, we didn't start the FIRE. It was always burning since the world's been turning.

[wrycoder → BestHackerOnHN]

Bare rocks and water don’t burn, they are already oxidized. Life chemically reduces CO2, providing material than can support combustion.

[solardev → BestHackerOnHN]

Without living things, who would retire early? The markets aren't going to trade themselves.