Fire is not a substance or an object — it is a process, a rapid chemical reaction
Fire is not a 'thing' in the way wood or water are things. It is a rapid oxidation reaction — a self-sustaining exothermic chemical process that produces heat and light as byproducts. The 'flames' you see are superheated gases glowing. Fire requires three elements simultaneously (heat, fuel, oxygen) and is essentially a chain reaction: combustion products create heat, heat releases more combustible gases from the fuel, which combust, producing more heat. Remove any element and the process stops. 'Putting out' fire means interrupting a process, not removing a substance.
We interact with fire in ways that imply it's a tangible thing — we say we 'have a fire', we 'build' one, we 'kill' it. These linguistic choices treat fire as an object, when it is more accurately a verb — something happening, not something that exists.
“Fire is not a substance — it's a rapid chemical process. The flames are glowing superheated gases. You don't 'build' a fire in the way you build a table; you start a chain reaction. 🔥 #OddlyHuman”