Translation: Chimp guts are better at break-
ing down plant fibers and meat collagen than
human ones. We need blenders, food proces-
sors, and sweet, sweet heat to help our bodies
absorb food in a way our guts can handle, says
Rocke.
Around 10,000 BCE, our cavemen ances-
tors began to ditch hunting and gathering
in favor of the farming life, and our usage of
fire diversified. We started baking, defend-
ing our land from predators (the f lashpoint
of a sabertooth-warding wooden torch is
572°F), and firing pottery (clay particles
fuse at 1,650°F). You can do some things
with bowls made from reeds, says Rocke,
“but to make containers useful for cook-
ing, you need fire.”EMBERS OF WARFARE
When wood reaches its f lashpoint, the heat
exorcises impurities like water vapor, sul-
fur compounds, and nitrogen compounds,
leaving essentially pure carbon behind—
charcoal. This substance burns hotter than
normal wood, and throughout history, more
heat has led to better tech.
The Hittites were some of the most pro-
lific iron producers of the Bronze Age
(3300–1200 BCE), and evidence suggests
they were among the first ancient empires to
discover that they could prevent their tools
and weapons from rusting by forging steel
from iron and charcoal. When charcoal fuses
with iron ore, it acts as a reducing agent,
attracting oxygen away from the metal. It
also lowers iron’s melting point. This lower
heat threshold allowed the Hittites to pro-
duce more durable iron weapons on a mass
scale. It also helped them gain trade lever-
age—in the 13th century BCE, a Hittite king
sent another ruler an iron dagger as appease-
ment—and gave them a tactical edge over
their bronze-bound opponents, including
the mighty ancient Egyptians.
“The invention of charcoal was a greatasset to society because it enabled all these
high-temperature processes,” Rocke says.
“You can do some metallurgy without char-
coal, but you can’t make iron or steel, both
of which require a blast furnace.”
It isn’t certain how the Hittites mass-
produced malleable iron and steel, but
archaeologists are confident that blast
furnaces operated in China as early as the
5th century BCE. Blast furnaces liquefy
metals at 3,000°F. In ancient China,
this meant the introduction of cast iron,
the ultra-malleable, ultra-rust-resistant
material the Western world has used in
cannons, bridges, and, yup, the cast iron
skillet in your kitchen that can withstand
2,000°F.EXPLOSION OF INDUSTRY
No image captures the intersection of fire
and modern industry better than a burning
oil derrick’s column of f lame. After Edwin
Drake drilled the first oil well in Pennsyl-
vania in 1859, people began to refine that
oil over a fire and distill it into some of the
tentpole resources of modern life: kero-
sene, diesel, and gasoline, the last of which
could be boiled off and condensed between
104°–4 01°F.
Early on, Americans used these
resources mostly to illuminate our cit-
ies and homes, but in the mid-to-late 19th
century, gasoline became fuel for a more
adrenal, exciting purpose: helping us
go far and go fast. The liquid-fuel inter-
nal-combustion engine burns a mixture
of gasoline and air to create a combus-
tion that expands gases inside the engine
to push the pistons and rotate the crank-
shaft. This simple fire-powered design
became the basis of modern transport,
from the Wright brothers’ plane at Kitty
Hawk, to the refurbished Challenger 2,
which topped 448 miles per hour and broke
the land speed record in 2018, to the 2,300-4000 BCE
Ancient Greeks mined the
toxic mineral asbestos—
named for their word meaning
“indistinguishable”—and used
its fibrous crystals to make
wicks for candles and lamps.
450 BCE
Greek historian Herodotus
reported the use of asbes-
tos shrouds in funeral pyres
to preserve a body’s ashes.
Meanwhile, the Romans
sewed asbestos fibers into
tablecloths and napkins.
755
King Charlemagne of France
ordered an asbestos-woven
tablecloth to prevent acciden-
tal fires (a major party foul) at
his many feasts and fêtes.
1725
As the Italian government doled
out asbestos-fibered bank notes
to their citizenry, Ben Franklin
touted a purse made of the fire-
proof material during a visit to
England.
1821
French chemist Joseph Louis
Gay-Lussac fused boron salts
with ammonium phosphate to
create a fire-protective agent
for clothing, but the sub-
stance’s high solu bility meant
that it came out in the wash.
1912
British chemist William Per-
kins added stannic oxide—a
heated solution of sodium
stannate and ammonium sul-
fate—to Gay-Lussac’s mix. The
result could resist two years of
regular washing.
1957
American scientists Wilson
Reeves and J.D. Guthrie
found that reacting tetrakis
hydroxymethyl phospho-
nium chloride (THPC) with
other compounds creates
a fire-resistant resin that
keeps treated fabric strong
and lightweight. It’s inte-
grated into many cotton
fabrics, including children’s
sleepwear.
A BRIEF HISTORY
OF FIREPROOFING*
Most fireproof clothing is made of heat-resistant aramid, modacrylic, and carbon
fibers. But you can achieve a similar effect with two household items.Alum powder- Mix one pound of
alum with one pint
of hot water. - Dip the material
into the solution,
wet it completely,
then let dry.
20 Mule Team Borax- Add 13 oz. of 20
Mule Team Borax to
one gallon of hot water. - Let the powder dis-
solve, pour the solution
into a spray bottle, shake,
spray, and let dry.
*AND HOW TO MAKE YOUR FABRIC FLAME RESISTANT
LAKOTAGAMBILL74 December 2019