spotaneous combustion

[froggo]

spontaneous combustion real or fake?

[southerngirl]

Thought it was real until I saw a programme where they said it was the wick effect. Basically they wrapped a dead pig in a blanket and set light to it. It worked like a candle, where it burned totally and locally where it was alight and only damaged the immediate area around it, but burnt out afater a while leaving the rest of the pig unburnt. The temepratures with this form of burning are very high indeed but don't produce the "flash over" you get with a normal fire.

Not very well explained but I'm sure there must be a section on "The wick effect" on the web somewhere which probably explains it better.

[froggo]

thnx southerngirl i saw that too now im not too paranoid about eating chilli haha!

[froggo]

still quite scary though make sure you dont go to sleep with a lit candle

[ugly_bob]

or a pig

[qapmoc]

Errr.... yeah, right!!

(Fried bacon for breakfast takes on a whole new meaning)

[heathfield]

This 'wick effect' doen't seem to account for some cases. For instance, the case of Robert Francis Bailey.

[froggo]

weird sh1t but perhaps thats what happens when u drink meths!