Question
What is meant by combustion? Explain it by giving an example.

Answer

Combustion is a reaction in which a substance is heated in presence of air or oxygen.
$\rightarrow$ During this reaction, carbon present in all allotropic forms undergoes combustion in air to produce carbon dioxide with release of heat and light.
$\underset{\text { Carbon }}{ C }+\underset{\text { Oxygen }}{ O _2} \longrightarrow \underset{\begin{array}{c}\text { Carbon } \\ \text { dioxide }\end{array}}{ CO _2}+$ Heat and Light
$\rightarrow$ Almost all carbon compounds also release a large amount of heat and light on burning.
$\rightarrow$ These are one kind of oxidation reactions.
For example,
$\underset{\text { Methane}}{ CH _4}+\underset{\text {Oxygen }}{2 O _2} \longrightarrow \underset{\begin{array}{c}\text { Carbon } \\ \text { dioxide }\end{array}}{ CO _2}+\underset{\text { Water }}{2 H _2 O }+$ Heat and Light
$\underset{\text { Ethanol }}{ CH _3 CH _2 OH }+\underset{\text { Oxygen }}{3 O _2} \longrightarrow \underset{\begin{array}{c}\text { Carbon } \\ \text { dioxide }\end{array}}{2 CO _2}+\underset{\text {Water}}{3 H _2 O} +$ Heat and Light
$\rightarrow$ Saturated hydrocarbons will generally give a clean flame, while unsaturated hydrocarbons give a yellow flame with a release of black smoke.

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