Editing Fire (section)

==== Later human control ====
{{multiple image
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| image1            = The Great Fire of London, with Ludgate and Old St. Paul's.JPG
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| image2            = Royal Air Force Bomber Command, 1942-1945. CL3400.jpg
| alt2              = The Lyceum in 1861
| footer            = [[The Great Fire of London]] (1666) and [[Hamburg]] after four [[fire-bombing]] raids in July 1943, which killed an estimated 50,000 people<ref>"[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/shared/spl/hi/pop_ups/03/europe_german_destruction/html/4.stm In Pictures: German destruction] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191213141457/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/shared/spl/hi/pop_ups/03/europe_german_destruction/html/4.stm |date=2019-12-13 }}". [[BBC News]].</ref>
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Throughout much of history, cultures attempted to explain nature and the properties of matter by proposing a set of four (or five) [[classical element]]s, of which [[Fire (classical element)|fire formed one of the components]]. As scientific understanding developed following the [[Middle Ages]], this philosophy was replaced by a set of chemical elements and their interactions. Instead, the classical elements found an equivalency in the [[State of matter|states of matter]]: solid, liquid, gas, and plasma.<ref>{{cite journal | title=The Origin of the Elements | last=Penzias | first=A. A. | author-link=Arno Allan Penzias | journal=Science | date=August 1979 | volume=205 | issue=4406 | pages=549–554 | doi=10.1126/science.205.4406.549 | bibcode=1979Sci...205..549P }}</ref>

During the 17th century, a study of combustion was made by [[Jan Baptist van Helmont]] who discovered that burning charcoal released a ''gas sylvestris'', or wild spirit.<ref name=Dolman_2023>{{cite book | chapter=The discovery of the Carbon Dioxide molecule | first=Han | last=Dolman | date=March 2023 | pages=37–61 | title=Carbon Dioxide through the Ages: From wild spirit to climate culprit | isbn=9780198869412 | publisher=Oxford University Press | doi=10.1093/oso/9780198869412.003.0003 }}</ref> This was subsequently incorporated into [[Phlogiston theory]] by [[Johann Joachim Becher]] in 1667; a concept that would dominate alchemical thinking for nearly two centuries.<ref>{{cite web | title=Combustion | work=Science Encyclopedia | url=https://science.jrank.org/pages/1628/Combustion-History.html | access-date=2025-03-07 }}</ref> It was [[Antoine Lavoisier]] who demonstrated that combustion did not involve the release of a substance, but rather something was being taken up.<ref name=Dolman_2023/> In 1777, Lavoisier proposed a new theory of combustion based on the reaction of a material with a component of air, which he termed oxygène. By 1791, Lavoisier's chemistry concepts had been widely adopted by young scientists, and Phlogiston theory was rejected.<ref>{{cite web | title=The Chemical Revolution of Antoine-Laurent Lavoisier | series=International Historic Chemical Landmark | publisher=[[American Chemical Society]] | url=https://www.acs.org/education/whatischemistry/landmarks/lavoisier.html | access-date=2025-03-07 }}</ref>

Fire has been used for centuries as a method of torture and execution,<ref>{{cite conference
 | last1=Petaros | first1=A. | last2=Borrini | first2=M. | last3=Josip | first3=A. | year=2009 | title=The history of fire and torture – fire in crimes committed against the integrity of life and health | conference=V Meeting of the International Society for the History of Medicine | pages=92-92 | url=https://www.croris.hr/crosbi/publikacija/prilog-skup/554979 | access-date=2025-02-25 }}</ref> as evidenced by [[death by burning]] as well as torture devices such as the [[Boot (torture)|iron boot]],<ref>{{cite journal | title=Torture under English Law | first=Ernest G. | last=Black | journal=University of Pennsylvania Law Review and American Law Register | volume=75 | issue=4 | date=February 1927 | pages=344–348 | doi=10.2307/3307506 | jstor=3307506 }}</ref> which could be heated over an open fire to the agony of the wearer.<ref>{{cite journal | title=The Use and Forms of Judicial Torture in England and Scotland | first=R. D. | last=Melville | journal=The Scottish Historical Review | volume=2 | issue=7 | date=April 1905 | pages=225–248 | jstor=25517609 }} In particular, see p. 238.</ref>

There are numerous modern applications of fire. In its broadest sense, fire is used by nearly every human being on Earth in a controlled setting every day. Users of [[internal combustion]] vehicles employ fire every time they drive. Thermal [[power station]]s provide [[electricity]] for a large percentage of humanity by igniting fuels such as [[coal]], [[oil]] or [[natural gas]], then using the resultant heat to boil water into [[steam]], which then drives [[turbine]]s.<ref>{{cite web
 | title=Why Fire Is the Greatest Tool of All Time
 | first=Vince | last=Guerrieri | date=February 17, 2020
 | work=Popular Mechanics | publisher=Hearst Digital Media
 | url=https://www.popularmechanics.com/home/tools/a30456620/fire-greatest-tool/
 | access-date=2025-02-26 }}</ref>