Why Only Earth Has Fire

Sdílet
Vložit
  • čas přidán 28. 05. 2024
  • Learn more about Surfshark VPN at: surfshark.deals/pbseons
    To get fire, which exists only on Earth, it took billions of years of photosynthesis - which means fire can’t exist without life. And fire and life have been shaping each other ever since.
    *****
    PBS Member Stations rely on viewers like you. To support your local station, go to to.pbs.org/DonateEons
    *****
    Produced by Complexly for PBS Digital Studios
    Super special thanks to the following Patreon patrons for helping make Eons possible:
    Collin Dutrow, Pope John XII, Steven Kern, Aaditya Mehta, AllPizzasArePersonal, John H. Austin, Jr., Alex Hackman, Amanda Ward, Stephen Patterson, Karen Farrell, Trevor Long, Jason Rostoker, Jonathan Rust, Mary Tevington, Bart & Elke van Iersel - De Jong, Irene Wood, Derek Helling, Mark Talbott-Williams, Nomi Alchin, Duane Westhoff, Hillary Ryde-Collins, Yu Mei, Albert Folsom, Heathe Kyle Yeakley, Dan Caffee, Jeff Graham, Tony Broussard
    If you'd like to support the channel, head over to / eons and pledge for some cool rewards!
    Want to follow Eons elsewhere on the internet?
    Facebook - / eonsshow
    Twitter - / eonsshow
    Instagram - / eonsshow
    #Eons #fire
    References: docs.google.com/document/d/1u...
  • Zábava

Komentáře • 2,1K

  • @kyrerymmukk7446
    @kyrerymmukk7446 Před 5 měsíci +424

    Uncle Iroh was right, fire really is the breath of life.

    • @g2unes
      @g2unes Před 29 dny +1

      😂Lol

    • @agxryt
      @agxryt Před 28 dny +6

      "and with fire, came disparity. Heat and cold. Life and death. Light and dark."
      Lordran is prehistory, confirmed

  • @mst4309
    @mst4309 Před 5 měsíci +2626

    I think the societal misconceptions with what fire actually is is very overlooked, and what it and plasma and glowing-hot liquid metals are should be more clearly covered in school

    • @OrdinaryCritic
      @OrdinaryCritic Před 5 měsíci +51

      Agreed. This is very important.

    • @joser9237
      @joser9237 Před 5 měsíci +196

      Just to be clear, fire isn't a type of plasma. It *can* have plasma if it were hot enough to ionize atoms and be electrically conductive. Most candles and wood fires are not hot enough to create plasma. The common understanding is that fire is hot glowing gas, much like hot metals glow when sufficiently heated.

    • @julianshepherd2038
      @julianshepherd2038 Před 5 měsíci +40

      Children and fire.
      What could go wrong.

    • @garettdoornwaard4822
      @garettdoornwaard4822 Před 5 měsíci +23

      I think they are in Canada because i immediately chuckled at the headline and mockingly thought "maybe because were the ones with oxygen...like some public school stuff?"😂

    • @solalflechelles1216
      @solalflechelles1216 Před 5 měsíci +67

      @@garettdoornwaard4822 Keep chuckling. There are plenty of planets with oxygen.
      What they don't have is both oxygen and fuel, because they lack a cycle by which both can be continually produced, that is, life.

  • @Artful_Synthesis
    @Artful_Synthesis Před 3 měsíci +55

    I don't give PBS enough credit for the knowledge, inspiration and entertainment they have provided to me my entire life. The countless people who have and continued to work to build PBS into the most reliable source of educational entertainment have my thanks.

    • @themanhimself3
      @themanhimself3 Před 19 dny +3

      I'm glad our taxes are doing something cool.

  • @GuyWithAnAmazingHat
    @GuyWithAnAmazingHat Před 5 měsíci +49

    It makes so much more sense now why classical elements consider fire an element. I wonder what kind of such "elements" exist out in the universe that we don't even know exist.

  • @KoneSkirata
    @KoneSkirata Před 5 měsíci +651

    Life is older than fire. That's going on the "obscure perspective-changing facts" list.

    • @rstidman
      @rstidman Před 3 měsíci +25

      who would want to live in a world where you can't tell someone else to go die in a fire?

    • @therobn
      @therobn Před 3 měsíci +2

      They had to come to that conclusion for you? Man basically discovered fire

    • @KoneSkirata
      @KoneSkirata Před 3 měsíci

      @therobn The tens of thousands of animals that were vaporized within a thousand kilometer radius around the Yucatan peninsula, as well as the many millions more that were burned alive within a couple thousand kilometers by earth's mantle literally being ejected into space and raining down again in an apocalyptic hellfire of unprecedented proportions in the history of life, to not even mention the billions of plants meeting their demise as molten stone set ablaze entire continents, will be glad to hear that there was no such thing as fire, before mankind discovered it 🤡

    • @avinashreji60
      @avinashreji60 Před 3 měsíci +29

      @@therobn ? that's not true

    • @nottelling7438
      @nottelling7438 Před 2 měsíci +26

      ​@@therobnWe didn't start the fire. Earlier living things did.

  • @Uhshawdude
    @Uhshawdude Před 5 měsíci +1383

    The fact that water, fire and life are so interconnected and reliant upon each other to exist on this planet feels poetic in a way. Water creates life, life creates fire, fire consumes life, water douses fire, life is reborn from the ashes of the old.

    • @InquisitorBoomBoom
      @InquisitorBoomBoom Před 5 měsíci +42

      I appreciate Terra even more

    • @rgw5991
      @rgw5991 Před 5 měsíci +10

      awesome!

    • @sntslilhlpr6601
      @sntslilhlpr6601 Před 5 měsíci +49

      I was thinking that but chemically. At the end of the day it's just moving the same things back and forth.

    • @MissMarilynDarling
      @MissMarilynDarling Před 5 měsíci +59

      its like an unending game of rock paper scissors

    • @benwagner5089
      @benwagner5089 Před 5 měsíci +47

      Puts a whole new spin on "Everything changed when the fire nation attacked."

  • @DeuxisWasTaken
    @DeuxisWasTaken Před 5 měsíci +18

    This is a great point. Fire needs reactive oxidiser and reactive fuel. (Pedantic nitpick: despite the name oxygen is not the only nor the most powerful oxidiser.) The problem is that reactive things, well, react and so they are never naturally available in large not yet reacted quantities. Life is the exception in that it reverses that process, it uses energy to turn less reactive compounds into more reactive ones (endothermic chemical reactions) so that it can use them as building blocks or react them back together to get the stored energy back.
    Photosynthesis is a pump that takes energy from the Sun's light to perform these reactions, transforming that light energy into usable chemical energy. When aerobic life burns sugar with oxygen to use that energy, the term "burns" is pretty literal. As a side effect, the surplus oxygen and unburnt fuel can result in plain old fire.
    Although, it might be possible for fire to exist without life. There are endothermic reactions that can occur due to heat without any organic help, so there might be planets where extreme solar radiation or internal heat affect naturally occurring compounds and result in endothermic reactions that produce oxidiser+fuel, which then burn back together, completing a cycle.

    • @TheWemmick
      @TheWemmick Před 5 měsíci +3

      Fantastic comment. I was hoping someone with chemistry knowledge would step in.
      "it might be possible for fire to exist without life"
      Yeah, I was wondering. My thinking was that a planet with an eccentric orbit might provide suitable conditions. If you had an endothermic reaction storing up energy during the hot period of the orbit, it could burn off when the planet travels farther from its star.

  • @chriskirby1879
    @chriskirby1879 Před 5 měsíci +78

    As a degreed and professional forester. Thank you for this! I wish more people would fully understand this!

    • @Punishedgentile
      @Punishedgentile Před 5 měsíci +4

      Degreed only means you memorized enough things to pass the final at the end of the year. As someone who works in chemicals, I know this idea of fire needing organic matter to burn is simply not true

    • @manicangel7796
      @manicangel7796 Před 5 měsíci +2

      As a degreed person, one would believe you would not write a fragmented sentence.

    • @user-ds8rj2vc4v
      @user-ds8rj2vc4v Před 3 měsíci +1

      @@Punishedgentile
      Not necessarily organic, no, but surely would have to compose of the same elements (in same variation) to release (x)CO2 & (x)H2O?
      But yeah, as a Biologist - I hate the presentation here personally. It makes a lot of presumptions from the get-go, including that only our planet can even support life in the first place.

    • @videogamesarecool9280
      @videogamesarecool9280 Před měsícem

      @@user-ds8rj2vc4vthey did specify 'know planets' and earth is the only planet we currently know of that provably has life

    • @user-ds8rj2vc4v
      @user-ds8rj2vc4v Před měsícem

      @@videogamesarecool9280
      It's more that they said;
      "It isn't the only watery planet in the universe, but it is the only fiery planet"
      Which doesn't mention about "known planets" just outright stated it's the only one.
      So far, we've been to like two planets. Including our own. So it's a bit of a bold statement to make.

  • @Hi_Im_Akward
    @Hi_Im_Akward Před 5 měsíci +1234

    I've always wondered how grasslands could be the dominant biome for an area without it getting taken over by trees. This makes so much sense. I already kind of knew this, I live in an area where land burning is a seasonal phenomenon land owners do (its in a controlled setting) but I really didn't know why. And I had no clue this was an evolved adaptation to benefit the grass. Evolution is crazy and I feel like we as laymen humans forget about the plants but they do some cool stuff.

    • @LaineyBug2020
      @LaineyBug2020 Před 5 měsíci +27

      I grew up in Kansas where they do the same thing! Nothing quite like the smell of the pastures burning!

    • @skadoodle8503
      @skadoodle8503 Před 5 měsíci +22

      the world is truly an interesting place, I think we just fail to see it because we are pre occupied by other things such as socmeds, work, studies etc.

    • @giraffelord94
      @giraffelord94 Před 5 měsíci +51

      The fact that always blows my mind is how long it took for grass to even show up. Like the most basic kind of plant you could imagine, a leaf in the ground, only evolved around 55 million years ago.
      Yes there were grass-like plants back then, but grass itself, like the kind you see every day, didn't show up until so recently.

    • @josem1419
      @josem1419 Před 5 měsíci +21

      @@giraffelord94 yeah, grass (of any kind) is so ubiquitous I can't imagine a world without it

    • @The_Opinion_of_Matt
      @The_Opinion_of_Matt Před 5 měsíci +16

      You should look up what happened to Yellowstone National Park after wolves were reintroduced. It is rather amazing.

  • @willmendoza8498
    @willmendoza8498 Před 5 měsíci +184

    Sometimes a video tells me stuff I already knew, but recontextualizes it in a way that makes it feel brand new. This is one such video.

    • @Neuvost
      @Neuvost Před 4 měsíci +6

      knowledge AND wisdom :D

    • @Janziepoo
      @Janziepoo Před měsícem

      I recognize your profile picture but can't remember where I've seen it! @willmendoza8498

    • @FoulWeatherFriend385
      @FoulWeatherFriend385 Před 24 dny +1

      Another groundbreaking fact from this video: PBS is now being sponsored by a software company who’s main selling point is that it gives people access to porn in states where its blocked. Lol

    • @technopoptart
      @technopoptart Před 21 dnem

      pretty much, yeah.

  • @lonjohnson5161
    @lonjohnson5161 Před 5 měsíci +24

    I really liked this one. It is obvious in retrospect that you can't have fire without life or some other ongoing process, given that chemicals that can vigorously react (burn) on geological time will find each other and react until something is completely consumed (the rusting of the Earth's crust is evidence of that); however, until someone mentions it, you don't really think about it. In other words, I liked this episode because it made me look at what I thought I knew differently.

  • @jaiclary8423
    @jaiclary8423 Před 5 měsíci +6

    The older I get, the less common it is to come across something that truly teaches me something new. This video accomplished it. Thank you.

  • @PendragonDaGreat
    @PendragonDaGreat Před 5 měsíci +135

    Earth: Creates Giant Insects:
    Also Earth: Creates fire to deal with said giant insects.

  • @hypocriticalcritic6915
    @hypocriticalcritic6915 Před 5 měsíci +181

    "Damn, this planet is fire"

    • @fduranthesee
      @fduranthesee Před 5 měsíci +10

      no cap, this planet is straight-up bussin'

  • @jkatttt1699
    @jkatttt1699 Před 5 měsíci +16

    This is something we are missing in modern forest management that has been a contributing factor to the intense wildfire burns we are seeing!!! It's just one piece of the puzzle of course, but the importance of regenerative burning cannot be overstated!

    • @thomaskrug4328
      @thomaskrug4328 Před 2 měsíci

      True enough. Smokey the Bear notwithstanding, it turns out we can't prevent forest fires, only postpone them. Then when they do finally happen, the damage is pretty severe.

  • @MaekarManastorm
    @MaekarManastorm Před 3 měsíci +34

    Why only Uranus has Gas

  • @timhogan9282
    @timhogan9282 Před 5 měsíci +385

    I haven't thought about this before. Goes to show you you never stop learning

    • @glennjpanting2081
      @glennjpanting2081 Před 5 měsíci

      Some people do ..... but that's only because they choose to be ignorant. Poor dumb bastards. 😞

    • @360.Tapestry
      @360.Tapestry Před 5 měsíci +2

      where there's life... there's fire

    • @jelly.212
      @jelly.212 Před 5 měsíci +1

      @@360.Tapestry define life. Because some planets also have life.

    • @thechicken1477
      @thechicken1477 Před 5 měsíci +8

      ​@@jelly.212 Name one

    • @AlanTheBeast100
      @AlanTheBeast100 Před 5 měsíci +2

      Regrettably I meet people daily who proved they stop learning. A lot. And young. Sad.

  • @AceofHearth
    @AceofHearth Před 5 měsíci +450

    I don't know why but watching this video makes me long to see the days before I ever existed. Not to experience or go through it, but just to observe it and just wonder and wander more.

    • @davidgantenbein9362
      @davidgantenbein9362 Před 5 měsíci +32

      I always wonder when we will go and just do super realistic simulations of all these time periods … to entertain, educate and also study possibilities. Maybe one day we can take a simulated walk through those times.

    • @LuisSierra42
      @LuisSierra42 Před 5 měsíci +19

      This just proves that there are far more things that we would never know or understand than the things we do

    • @Dean_stoonts
      @Dean_stoonts Před 5 měsíci

      That’s stupid

    • @thelionoob
      @thelionoob Před 5 měsíci +16

      that has been one of my deepest desires since I was a child. Be able to go to any period in time before human history as an observer, to gaze upon what we have never been able to.

    • @sp5072
      @sp5072 Před 5 měsíci +2

      Must’ve missed the part about the fire tornadoes

  • @toodlesX14
    @toodlesX14 Před 5 měsíci +169

    It may not be very scientific, but I've always liked thinking of fire as an abstract form of life. So it's super interesting to learn that fire wasn't always around, and needed a specific set of circumstances to "evolve" so to speak. Really neat episode, I learned a lot!

    • @ambergris5705
      @ambergris5705 Před 5 měsíci +2

      I love this idea too. Someone should write something about that!

    • @Nartinan
      @Nartinan Před 5 měsíci +23

      Yes, I think so too. Fire is at least in the same category as life, both are in a sense a reaction zone. Fuel goes in, waste comes out, the system sustains itself and seeks more fuel until it "dies"

    • @cardboardboxification
      @cardboardboxification Před 5 měsíci

      fire is simple electromagnetic at the atomic structure , absolutely no electromagnetic physics on earth create cells , much less life

    • @HallucigeniaIV
      @HallucigeniaIV Před 5 měsíci +18

      I have a vague memory of the series of Avatar (the OG one with the element-benders) Discussing fire as an "alive" element, or even the element of life, as it is the only element that grows and needs care to exist. it always stuck with me and I think fire is a beautiful counterpart to our usual understanding of life!

    • @TheSaneHatter
      @TheSaneHatter Před 5 měsíci +1

      Robert de Niro, as a fire-department investigator, has a monologue to that effect in the movie, "Backdraft."

  • @tylerwheeling3060
    @tylerwheeling3060 Před 5 měsíci +5

    This is lowkey an anthropologist answer to religious fire and early religions too. Fire made humanity and culture as it is today from the very start. Its importance is woven into most mythologies, for better and for worse.

  • @paradox7358
    @paradox7358 Před 5 měsíci +140

    Those fire storms of the Carboniferous would have been a terrifying sight to behold.

    • @FleshWizard69420
      @FleshWizard69420 Před 5 měsíci +34

      Ah yes, the Carboniferous
      When everywhere was Australia

    • @GalvyTheTom
      @GalvyTheTom Před 5 měsíci +23

      @@FleshWizard69420If Australia was predominantly rainforest instead of desert

    • @ratre7349
      @ratre7349 Před 5 měsíci +13

      But also terrifyingly beautifull.

    • @TheRogueX
      @TheRogueX Před 5 měsíci

      You can ask German and Japanese survivors of World War II, they can give you an idea of what it would have been like. Specifically, people who lived in Dresden and Tokyo.

    • @fabianmckenna8197
      @fabianmckenna8197 Před 28 dny

      ​@@TheRogueX
      You mean the German and Japanese invaders who were quite happy to destroy everything in their path before finally refusing to surrender until their countries were bombed into submission.........

  • @SilverScarletSpider
    @SilverScarletSpider Před 5 měsíci +54

    2:29 i like it when the hosts enjoy the scripts that they write. gives everyone a bit more voice. Wood is rarer in this universe than Diamond, because only Earth has wood.

  • @gillosborne9516
    @gillosborne9516 Před 5 měsíci +2

    Wow. What an episode. I’m mid sixties. Why did I not know this?

  • @geirtwo
    @geirtwo Před 5 měsíci +11

    "Fire can't exist without life" 🤯 Wow, that is something to think about. I have had thoughts about fire as a form of life recently, but I have never though fire is dependent on life. It is like we could place fire somewhere in the phylogenetic tree!
    Heraclitus is the best!

    • @TheRogueX
      @TheRogueX Před 5 měsíci +2

      Fire isn't dependent on life.

    • @ragnkja
      @ragnkja Před 4 měsíci +2

      Without life, the fuel and oxidiser would just react with each other and get used up. The thing that’s unique about Earth is that they get replenished, and that requires life.

    • @cowboybeebop3451
      @cowboybeebop3451 Před 2 měsíci

      The sun is a nuclear fire, it's not really an explosion as it is constant so it's a fire ​@@ragnkja

    • @ragnkja
      @ragnkja Před 2 měsíci

      @@cowboybeebop3451
      But it’s not a fire, it’s a nuclear chain reaction.

    • @cowboybeebop3451
      @cowboybeebop3451 Před 2 měsíci

      @@ragnkja but isn't a fire just a sustained reaction though?
      It's just the combustion of something like wood but it's still functions in the same way just not using oxygen.
      I mean I could be wrong but when I think of the sun I think fire and light

  • @Zimisce85
    @Zimisce85 Před 5 měsíci +495

    I would love to see an episode about lichens: their evolution, when the symbiont relation may have appeared, if they have made genetic studies and if they have learned something from them. I always had the idea that lichens have much to say about the emergence of life on land.

    • @LeoDomitrix
      @LeoDomitrix Před 5 měsíci +15

      Just seconding (or fiftieth-ing) the lichens. They're fascinating.

    • @thelionoob
      @thelionoob Před 5 měsíci +8

      agreed

    • @one_field
      @one_field Před 5 měsíci +8

      Upvote! This would be a great episode.

    • @jwarfield1623
      @jwarfield1623 Před 5 měsíci +8

      I'm here for that too. I'd love that

    • @Pk_Nangz
      @Pk_Nangz Před 5 měsíci +9

      I’m in school for natural resources and they’re one of my favourite things to learn about. They are pretty much architects of nature as they break down rock from barren stony landscapes to produce soil which leads to forests, this process is known as ecological succession and it’s very interesting.

  • @goatsplitter
    @goatsplitter Před 5 měsíci +286

    This makes me wonder what other kind of things are possible on other planets. If fire is unique to our earth like conditions, what about other things? The universe is constantly amazing.

    • @oriontigley5089
      @oriontigley5089 Před 5 měsíci +67

      Oil and coal is also probably fairly unique to Earth, since they largely formed from our specific mass extinction events.
      It's very possible that, if intelligent life does exist out there, their Industrial Revolution would look very different or may not happen at all

    • @krishadyn5211
      @krishadyn5211 Před 5 měsíci +30

      The most amazing basic object that could be grasped might be ice fragments from high pressure planets. As ice is compressed, it becomes incredibly hard, like stone. Like cold crystal. It can be set into lava and not melt. But if you took these cold diamonds out of their high pressure atmosphere, they'd melt (I think).

    • @goatsplitter
      @goatsplitter Před 5 měsíci +22

      @@oriontigley5089 yeah you're so right! I read somewhere that as we keep depleting our fossil fuel reserves, we're making it so a hypothetical intelligent life down the line, or future humans, would never be able to industrialize. Wild!!

    • @Rebar77_real
      @Rebar77_real Před 5 měsíci +5

      Like how there are so many different thermite reactions here, then there's Uranium!

    • @jaredf6205
      @jaredf6205 Před 5 měsíci +8

      For fire, you need a chemical to accept electrons and a chemical to give electrons. Oxygen, chlorine and fluorine give electrons really well and you can have fires involving those, I don’t think most other elements are as reactive in that way. There are loads of chemicals that can give electrons to them, fuels. But there’s not really anything weird and new out there as far as flashy reactions like that like you are thinking. Not going to come across some new phenomena.

  • @megan5867
    @megan5867 Před 10 dny

    I live in Kansas, and this is exactly why we do controlled burns of our fields and grasslands every year. The Flint Hills are my favorite. In winter all the grasses die, in the spring, we do controlled burns, and by later spring, early summer, they are the most beautiful green hills. Kansas doesn't have a lot going for it, but driving through the Flint Hills in late spring/early summer is definitely something to see. You can truly imagine native peoples living alongside the massive herds of buffalo, or imagine people traversing the seemingly neverending prarie in covered wagons.

  • @SavannahBurris
    @SavannahBurris Před 4 měsíci +2

    Pretty neat! I hadn’t ever really thought about this even though in hindsight, it seems very logical and obvious. Reminds me a lot of Avatar: The Last Airbender and how Firebending is actually the element of life - not destruction. Without controlled burnings of grasslands and the death of old, decaying plants, new life would never have the chance to flourish.

  • @davidboyle1902
    @davidboyle1902 Před 5 měsíci +192

    This is one of your best presentations. Never actually thought about fire as discussed here. Very informative. Thx.

  • @raphlvlogs271
    @raphlvlogs271 Před 5 měsíci +22

    plants that are fire resistant are usually also more tolerant to poor nutrient deficient soils as well

  • @jaimequinones1109
    @jaimequinones1109 Před 5 měsíci +6

    This is one of y'all's best videos of all time imo. Wow

  • @PikaTigerlilypika
    @PikaTigerlilypika Před 5 měsíci +25

    But then the fire planet attacked.

  • @borovice1731
    @borovice1731 Před 5 měsíci +71

    Wow. This episode explained one of the longest interconnected chain of events ever.

  • @aplaceinthestars3207
    @aplaceinthestars3207 Před 5 měsíci +100

    Gosh, I feel like my mental concept of fire is stuck in the medieval era! The fact that both decomposing organisms AND fire didn't exist since the dawn of life and came about far later just blows my mind!

  • @MilonMing
    @MilonMing Před 4 měsíci +1

    I love this. Not only is it interesting for children to learn about, it appealed to me and I'm 70!! Puts a whole new spin on fire; something we take for granted on our planet.

  • @LXAsx457
    @LXAsx457 Před 4 měsíci +3

    I’ve watched a lot of these PBS Eons videos, and this has got to be one of the most interesting ones yet. Well done 👏 👏 👏

  • @fugithegreat
    @fugithegreat Před 5 měsíci +349

    Wow, I'd never considered the fact that fire wouldn't exist without something carbon-based to burn. Thanks for expanding my horizons and helping me to reframe my understanding!

    • @luel23
      @luel23 Před 5 měsíci +51

      There are some inorganic substances that can burn, too. Sulfur for example would yield you a little blue fire when ignited. Keeping in mind that accumulations of sulfur usually build up at vulcanic areas, this could easily happen.
      It's more the oxygen in the atmosphere that enables the formation of fires, since you have to have an oxidizing agent to burn stuff ^^

    • @ecurewitz
      @ecurewitz Před 5 měsíci +12

      And an oxygen rich atmosphere rich

    • @sntslilhlpr6601
      @sntslilhlpr6601 Před 5 měsíci +7

      Same here. Turns out rocks don't burn lol.

    • @cardboardboxification
      @cardboardboxification Před 5 měsíci +3

      fire has nothing to do with carbon, it's electromagnetic releasing electromagnetic energy in the spectrum of light and inferred , just consider it a very slow atomic bomb

    • @michaelblankenau6598
      @michaelblankenau6598 Před 5 měsíci +4

      I don't think rocket fuel is carbon based , but it definitely creates a powerful fire .

  • @thomasfalkenberg8549
    @thomasfalkenberg8549 Před 5 měsíci +227

    Considering Fire's role in human societies, this might also be a small step towards the Fermi Paradox

    • @Ethan-cz8xq
      @Ethan-cz8xq Před 5 měsíci +47

      Possibly. So for intelligent life to have access to fire, they'd need to both evolve on land and have oxygen be produced by a large amount of autotrophs

    • @geralferald
      @geralferald Před 5 měsíci +13

      @@Ethan-cz8xqfire isn’t necessary to technologically debelop

    • @IceSpoon
      @IceSpoon Před 5 měsíci +97

      @@geralferald You can't have a Kardashev-2 civilisation without barbecues.

    • @oriontigley5089
      @oriontigley5089 Před 5 měsíci +30

      ​@@geralferaldIt's not strictly neccessary, no, but it is extremely helpful.

    • @salemsaberhagan
      @salemsaberhagan Před 5 měsíci +49

      ​@@geralferaldit's necessary to externalise a part of the digestive process as we understand it, which both enables acquisition of biological energy through food & frees it up for complex & expensive mental processes which are necessary for technological development. No cooking means no extra energy for thinking up fancy things to do with lasers. Brains are expensive electrical devices.

  • @ggarpett8063
    @ggarpett8063 Před 4 měsíci +1

    This was miles more interesting of a video than I thought it’d be

  • @aidanwewilin
    @aidanwewilin Před 5 měsíci +2

    I didn’t expect this video to heighten my appreciation for fire and grass to this height.

  • @kathleencross-cj1xd
    @kathleencross-cj1xd Před 5 měsíci +110

    Of course! Rocks can't burn. Only things that have lived can burn. It makes so much sense. Why didn't I think of that. I love your vids. I love learning this stuff. Thanks.

    • @leewagner4474
      @leewagner4474 Před 5 měsíci +17

      Magnesium burns.

    • @maxgosselin62
      @maxgosselin62 Před 5 měsíci +32

      ​@@leewagner4474yeah, so do a lot of compounds that can exist without living organisms (even if they are much more common in their presence). I get the feeling that fire isn't necessarily ABSENT in the rest of the universe, just A LOT less common

    • @austin4855
      @austin4855 Před 5 měsíci +14

      @@leewagner4474 True, but magnesium is pretty rare in a pure metallic form on earth or anywhere else that we know of. And it oxidizes and that layer actually protects it from further oxygen exposure. If you had oxygen, metallic magnesium, and some kind of ignition source like a current, it could happen, but it's probably very rare.

    • @mkhanman12345
      @mkhanman12345 Před 5 měsíci +1

      I am going to learn now

    • @TG_Flatline
      @TG_Flatline Před 5 měsíci +1

      What about coal? (Genuinely asking)

  • @AifDaimon
    @AifDaimon Před 5 měsíci +44

    New criteria in the search for earth-like exoplanets: signs of fire.. Edit - I correctly guessed Dimetrodon

  • @Simbabbad
    @Simbabbad Před 3 měsíci +2

    This was an original and interesting angle! Great job.

  • @irrelevant2235
    @irrelevant2235 Před 5 měsíci +5

    Fire is a chemical reaction and life is a chemical reaction.

  • @RabidJohn
    @RabidJohn Před 5 měsíci +87

    Fire simply needs fuel and oxygen, so as soon as there was a sufficient concentration in the atmosphere, it was a thing.
    I was a coal miner. Seams commonly have very thin 'soot' bands (actually crushed charcoal) in them where the forests burnt around 350M years ago.
    Unsurprising that it goes back much further.

    • @jamesgeorge4874
      @jamesgeorge4874 Před 5 měsíci +2

      You forgot heat.

    • @RabidJohn
      @RabidJohn Před 5 měsíci +6

      @@jamesgeorge4874 No, I didn't.
      Fire needs an ignition source such as lightning.
      It doesn't need heat: it produces heat.
      Also, as a coal miner I know spontaneous combustion is a real and dangerous thing.
      Coal will oxidise without burning, but the reaction still produces heat.
      Limited airflow may not be sufficient to dissipate the heat and then you get the carbon dioxide reduction reaction that produces carbon monoxide.
      All with no flame...

    • @TheRogueX
      @TheRogueX Před 5 měsíci

      Fire needs fuel and an oxidizer. Oxygen isn't the only oxidizer.

  • @IRosamelia
    @IRosamelia Před 5 měsíci +12

    I can't believe I'm learning this in my mid-forties. This should be middle school basic science knowledge 🤔

  • @harrisonmoore3841
    @harrisonmoore3841 Před 5 měsíci +5

    This makes me wonder about life out there in space. Like, if their species couldn't invent fire, what could they do instead?

  • @blazefireecology
    @blazefireecology Před 5 měsíci +2

    may be biased, but this is one of the best eons videos yet! thanks for sharing the important and ancient relationship of life on earth with fire!

  • @geekyprojects1353
    @geekyprojects1353 Před 5 měsíci +28

    Nowadays iron contained in vehicles still absorbs oxygen. We call the product of this process "a beater car".

    • @DangerB0ne
      @DangerB0ne Před 5 měsíci +3

      Perhaps in time this process can be preserved as a hooptie-ite.

    • @KangwithoutaKangdom
      @KangwithoutaKangdom Před 5 měsíci

      ​@@DangerB0ne😂😂😂

    • @aircraftcarrierwo-class
      @aircraftcarrierwo-class Před 5 měsíci +3

      @@DangerB0ne As you can see this rock layer contains a high concentration of jalopicite...

    • @TragoudistrosMPH
      @TragoudistrosMPH Před 5 měsíci +1

      Such pure geekery! 🥲

    • @pinrod1
      @pinrod1 Před 3 měsíci

      Weight reduction bro

  • @grokeffer6226
    @grokeffer6226 Před 5 měsíci +30

    I'd not really thought about this before. This is truly amazing. 🔥

  • @noahdove4969
    @noahdove4969 Před 5 měsíci

    Oh my! Kelly, everytime you manage how to amaze me. Thank you all so much guys at EONS!

  • @DaydreamerWonderland
    @DaydreamerWonderland Před 5 měsíci +10

    This episode SLAPPED! I learned so much in 12mins it’s an absolute masterpiece, congrats to the writing!

  • @SuspiciousOwlbear
    @SuspiciousOwlbear Před 5 měsíci +28

    Well darn, I thought we only had fire because of Prometheus.

    • @GalvyTheTom
      @GalvyTheTom Před 5 měsíci +1

      What a plagiarizer

    • @davidgantenbein9362
      @davidgantenbein9362 Před 5 měsíci +6

      Technically Prometheus from mythology only gave fire to humans, he didn’t invent or create it. In fact, he stole fire from the gods and gave it to humans.

  • @emidowdarrow
    @emidowdarrow Před 5 měsíci +9

    Pretty cool. Makes sense why more ancient traditions view fire as life-giving.

  • @Kat-mh1ol
    @Kat-mh1ol Před 5 měsíci +4

    Thanks for such a great video. Love the idea that fire replenishes and nourishes life, especially at this cold time of year. It’s so interesting what fire does in our ecosystems.

  • @ItsCaramelToffee
    @ItsCaramelToffee Před 5 měsíci

    Loving the new trivia ending to the videos!

  • @maisiesummers42
    @maisiesummers42 Před 5 měsíci +22

    The opening bit about the sun being mostly hydrogen reminded me of this quote:
    "Several billion trillion tons of superhot exploding hydrogen nuclei rose slowly above the horizon and managed to look small, cold and slightly damp.” -Douglas Adams, Life, The Universe and Everything.

  • @godofthisshit
    @godofthisshit Před 5 měsíci +11

    I think these are the type of things we should think of when answering questions like “could the non avian dinosaurs survive today” or any long ago population. Grasslands wasn’t even common 65 million years ago.

  • @8SnowBalls8
    @8SnowBalls8 Před 5 měsíci +8

    "Nucular" --- I died ☠

  • @prapanthebachelorette6803
    @prapanthebachelorette6803 Před 5 měsíci +1

    I’ve been wondering my whole life why areas looking so dry and dead like this managed to sustain so many lives! Thanks Eons 😊🎉

  • @mattfirestone1
    @mattfirestone1 Před 5 měsíci +21

    What about chlorate reactions like in an oxygen candle? Isn't it possible to have combustion with the absence of Oxygen? Other types of combustion exist as well, like fluorine. Also magnesium/teflon/biton compositions burn without oxygen. Other halogens, such as bromine and iodine, can also act as oxidizing agents.

    • @DeRien8
      @DeRien8 Před 5 měsíci +1

      Or when the alkali metals oxidize vigorously in water or air. Or when hydrogen and oxygen explode to make water? I'm not sure if there would be enough of those reactive species hanging around separately on early Earth for any significant "fires" though.

    • @nottelling7438
      @nottelling7438 Před 5 měsíci +2

      The reactions discussed in the video (oxygen + organic fuel) are definitely fire, but I neither natural language evolution nor, I suspect, the wide array of possible chemical reactions particularly lend themselves to drawing a sharp line to distinguish fire from not fire without any ambiguous or counterintuitive results.

    • @mattfirestone1
      @mattfirestone1 Před 5 měsíci +2

      @@DeRien8 The title of the video is "why only earth has fire". My point is that there are many combustible compositions and an unfathomable number of planets so it is incredibly likely that a) there is fire on other planets and b) they aren't necessarily burning oxygen.

    • @TheRogueX
      @TheRogueX Před 5 měsíci +2

      It is absolutely possible. This video is rather misleading.
      Hydrocarbons can exist without life.
      Oxygen isn't the only oxidizer (and not even the most powerful one).
      From there all you need is energy to begin the reaction.

    • @mattfirestone1
      @mattfirestone1 Před 5 měsíci

      That's also my understanding. Fire most likely exists in lots of places. @@TheRogueX

  • @LukeBunyip
    @LukeBunyip Před 5 měsíci +21

    Given I live on a continent synonymous with fire, the lack of mention of the Eucalyptus family of flowering plants is bemusing.

  • @LEDewey_MD
    @LEDewey_MD Před 4 měsíci +5

    Great episode! The story of how our atmosphere became partly oxygen is a fascinating story, requiring research from many fields, including geology, meteorology, paleontology, and biology. An absolutely great book that covers all of these is "Oxygen: the Molecule that Made the World", by Dr. Nick Lane, (professor of evolutionary biochemistry at University College London, director of UCL's Centre for Life's Origins and Evolution ....in fact, I highly recommend ALL of his books.) It is an incredibly thorough and engaging read and remarkably still up to date, even though it was published in 2002. :)

  • @MrDan708
    @MrDan708 Před 7 dny

    While visiting Yellowstone about a decade ago, I learned that fire melts the sap coating lodgepole pine seeds, making it possible for them to germinate.

  • @owensanfordstuff
    @owensanfordstuff Před 5 měsíci +11

    Damn, just opened CZcams and new video

  • @MsZeeZed
    @MsZeeZed Před 5 měsíci +4

    Fire needs an Oxidiser, it doesn’t have to be dioxygen, its just the easiest component and makes fire so common, here on Earth. Fire can exist without life, it would just be much rarer in the absence of life, not completely absent.

    • @sydhenderson6753
      @sydhenderson6753 Před 5 měsíci +1

      Since volcanoes emit sulfur, that may have fueled Earth's first fires, although not wildfires.

    • @ragnkja
      @ragnkja Před 4 měsíci

      The thing that life provides is the ability to reverse energy-releasing chemical reactions. So without life, burned-up things stay burned-up forever.

  • @bretfisher7286
    @bretfisher7286 Před měsícem +1

    This is quite fascinating. I'm not exactly a scientist (which is a big reason I'm here-- to learn), but I'd actually never thought of this.

  • @anthonyfrench3169
    @anthonyfrench3169 Před 5 měsíci +12

    Even today we use fire to reseed the biosphere. Some examples that are at home for me is at Oak Openings in Toledo OH. It's an Oak Savanah and also where I currently live in Yamaguchi Japan. Akiyoshidai, a Karst plateau, both places use fire as a means to promote healthy growth.

  • @Fantasygod930
    @Fantasygod930 Před 5 měsíci +51

    I kind of knew fire had a archeological record But it was only up to humans discovering and using fire Maybe a bit of the dinosaur's extinction But damn I did not know if first appeared when life appeared or when plants appeared That's insane This channel always has many surprises instored

    • @TheRogueX
      @TheRogueX Před 5 měsíci

      Fire has existed for way longer than Earth has. This video is extremely misleading.

  • @AlecMajerison
    @AlecMajerison Před 18 dny

    The host seems so confident in their knowledge. They must be an eminent scientist.

  • @davidcooke8005
    @davidcooke8005 Před 5 měsíci

    0:40 Nukular Fusion is my favorite kind of music.

  • @KingsleyIII
    @KingsleyIII Před 5 měsíci +7

    This episode is straight fire.

  • @badmonkey244
    @badmonkey244 Před 5 měsíci +5

    You did it again: the title is enough to make me drop everything I'm doing cause now I HAVE to know 😅

  • @THE-X-Force
    @THE-X-Force Před 5 měsíci

    I love learning. Thank you everyone at PBS. ☮

  • @lauroralei
    @lauroralei Před 5 měsíci +2

    I often think of fire poetically as sunlight, trapped within plants, to be re-released into the Universe again anywhere from months to millions of years later

  • @morenauer
    @morenauer Před 5 měsíci +4

    Earth not only has fire, but also wind. Mainly in September ♬

  • @SeeTheWorldAsIDo78
    @SeeTheWorldAsIDo78 Před 5 měsíci +3

    We can thank Prometheus for the gift of fire

  • @Satyrday
    @Satyrday Před 5 měsíci

    i understand now why fire is not only synonymous with death but also rebirth. poetic in a way.

  • @evlkenevl2721
    @evlkenevl2721 Před 4 měsíci

    "Maize: You call it corn" 😂
    Seriously, it's ok to call it corn.

  • @Osterbaum
    @Osterbaum Před 5 měsíci +5

    An overview of the evolution of plants would be a useful episode.

    • @WAMTAT
      @WAMTAT Před 5 měsíci +2

      That would need to be several episodes. Plants are ... complex

  • @karlmark9967
    @karlmark9967 Před 5 měsíci +5

    I've always wondered how a planet with so much oxygen back then never got it self set on fire. It really was on fire. This topic is Lit.

  • @rjb227s
    @rjb227s Před 5 měsíci +1

    Great episode, but you really phoned it in on the closing statement. It reminded me of an elementary school book report:-)..

  • @gurusage
    @gurusage Před 4 měsíci +1

    Excellent video. The only thing I would have said differently is "Earth is the only planet in our solar system that has fire." We don't know if any of the exoplanets (in other star systems) throughout the universe have fire.

  • @Kemot300
    @Kemot300 Před 5 měsíci +3

    This gives the song "Fire in the sky" (American Space Age Anthem) a whole new meaning

  • @ApprendreSansNecessite
    @ApprendreSansNecessite Před 5 měsíci +5

    This intro is missing Lindsey Nikole's "THAT WE KNOW OF" XD

    • @LolUGotBusted
      @LolUGotBusted Před 5 měsíci

      It is missing Lindsey Nikoles "that we know of" THAT WE KNOW OF*

  • @1taeok
    @1taeok Před 3 měsíci

    "Only the earth has fire!"
    The sun: "Come here real quick!"

  • @joshuaguting7952
    @joshuaguting7952 Před měsícem

    This was the most beautiful video ever that came from this channel.

  • @markmuller7962
    @markmuller7962 Před 5 měsíci +3

    I had no idea some plants had such a relationship with fire. Amazing

  • @ntamsma
    @ntamsma Před 5 měsíci +5

    Never would have realized this. Love the show!

  • @dhaxiskhadhammer
    @dhaxiskhadhammer Před 5 měsíci

    Title for this video is unbelievably metal

  • @mattfk_kbraapratata8996
    @mattfk_kbraapratata8996 Před 3 měsíci

    “Fire is life, not just destruction “

  • @stinew358
    @stinew358 Před 5 měsíci +10

    I guess our early ancestors were right to worship fire. It really is quite something

  • @chih_le
    @chih_le Před 5 měsíci +26

    I got the trivia question right :) I love the new idea of trivia questions but can I suggest for the answers to only be revealed in the next video so that we can create discussions in the comments section without having to worry that people think we skip to the end to get the answer? The more educated guesses may even let us learn about alternate answers to the trivia question!

    • @TragoudistrosMPH
      @TragoudistrosMPH Před 5 měsíci +3

      🤔 I'm not sure alternate answers are ideal given the state of misinformation on the Internet 😕
      I love the idea of discussion though!
      (It could be challenging finding the answers in separate episodes when watching out of order, but YT has dates, so not impossible.)
      They could pin a discussion comment up top!

    • @phoebemurtagh3059
      @phoebemurtagh3059 Před 5 měsíci +1

      The classic "I'm not a dinosaur, but I play one in TV, children's toy sets, and the public consciousness" animal. 😁

  • @earthjustice01
    @earthjustice01 Před 5 měsíci +1

    And without water there would be no plate tectonics. Water from the oceans gets pulled down during subduction, mixes with oceanic crust, and this subducted rock turns to liquid magma after millions of years spent being pulled down into the mantle. The magma rises up through fissures to the surface where it erupts as volcanoes.

  • @punditgi
    @punditgi Před 2 měsíci +1

    Kallie is beautiful and irresistible. And she has a charming way of presenting science. Brava, signora! ❤🎉😊

  • @jjptech
    @jjptech Před 5 měsíci +8

    Can you continue this video by talking about trees that only spread seed when submited to fire?

  • @planetJane
    @planetJane Před 5 měsíci +3

    This video was great and very educational as usual, however, I think the wildest thing I learned here is that PBS Eons is apparently filmed in Montana.

  • @mirrorblue100
    @mirrorblue100 Před 5 měsíci +2

    I can't imagine life without grass. Dig?

  • @jenniferlevine5406
    @jenniferlevine5406 Před 5 měsíci

    Wonderful video. So interesting! Thanks so much.

  • @takenname8053
    @takenname8053 Před 5 měsíci +9

    Never realized this, until you pointed out how lightning and burning plasma are completely different things.