Courtney and friends weekend experiment

Yesterday Courtney, her sister Ashleigh and 5 other friends were playing in their hut at the local park. Courtney was talking about how you can make a fire by rubbing two sticks together. Fortunately I was there and suggested that it wouldn't a good idea to do that and we discussed why.
I decided to setup a controlled experiment to demonstrate how you could, in a survival/emergency situation, start a fire.

First we talked about the reasons why you should not play with or start a fire without an adult present.
Then we talked about the 3 ingredients you need to make a fire. Fuel, Oxygen (air), ignition and to maintain a fire you need is fuel and Oxygen. To extinguish a fire you need to remove either the fuel or oxygen (or both). By using water you can cover the fire to prevent more oxygen getting into the fire. I had a small pot lid to cover our experiment, if required.

For the first experiment I used a Ferrocerium (firesteel) rod, a baking tray, a piece of cotton wool (fuel). We moved to a concrete area away from anything that could burn. I placed the cotton wool onto the baking tray then by striking the rod with a piece of steel the sparks created fell on to the wool to ignite it. Some of the kids suggested using large sticks instead of the cotton wool. But we talked about how that may be dangerous and that this was just a small experiment. Google "Ferrocerium" to find out more about firesteel.

The second experiment used Potassium Permanginate, sugar and two pieces of wood.
I made a small hole in one piece of wood and took a pinch of potassium and a pinch of sugar placed it in the hole. The sugar is used as an oxidizer which helps the potassium burn longer. Using the other stick I pushed and twisted the ingredients into the hole causing as much friction as possible. The friction caused the Potassium to ignite which could be used to light a small piece of fuel (in our case, cotton wool) .

During both of these experiments the kids made suggestions that we discussed. Most of the suggestions would have resulted in bigger fires. But, safety with fire was emphasised and the consequences of bigger fires were recognised.