Energy in Matchstick

In a matchstick energy is not stored, it is made available by the chemical reaction between the components. The start is done by the high temperature at the friction point which initiates the reaction. If one knows the exact composition of the "head" it can be computed.

Thanks for your reply. So right from the point of starting the friction to the point when we though it out how much QUANTITY of heat it will produce? or how to quantify? Some sticks are small and big. Is there any standard?

<...how much QUANTITY of heat it will produce...>

One could use a calorimeter to find out.

I recall that as a young'un we were often told the example of there being enough energy in a match head to completely blow away a rather large mountain. But only in the "total conversion of mass to energy" sense. Obviously not from simply striking it.

That'd make for a bad evening, eh? Suavely strike a match to light the cigarette of a pretty young thing in a bar and vaporize her as well as several surrounding city blocks.

I recall, in the foggy back of my brain hearing long ago the a wooden match produces 1 BTU of heat.

The burnometer says there is enough energy in a standard matchstick to make you drop it or blow it out, before it's entirely consumed.

Someone had the need to measure the burntime of a sample of matches http://www.oswego.edu/~srp/stats/burntime.htm

With a mean burntime of 58.49 secs and a standard deviation of 14.52, what is a "standard match" for energy calcs?

73 Ohio Blue Tip Matches were randomly selected. For each match...

• it was placed in a vice in the upright position,
• a lighter was applied to the tip,
• at ignition (marked by a distinctive sound) a stopwatch was started,
• at death (marked by a wisp of smoke) the stopwatch was stopped, and
• the burn time was measured and recorded.

Here's the data

47.26 60.17 69.75 58.13 63.67 62.84 63.80 62.16 43.63 61.56 70.60 25.29 76.33 57.64 68.32 87.87 30.21 62.14 61.07 58.10 59.97 27.84 59.84 67.82 63.12 64.29 70.15 56.74 61.80 63.24 35.87 35.58 42.02 74.13 63.83 72.41 32.56 22.39 40.25 50.25 65.52 41.34 70.07 67.23 71.91 76.56 68.71 30.15 52.30 64.97 59.03 67.54 63.29 49.92 63.52 71.27 48.32 57.35 63.96 74.69 66.54 53.96 60.84 74.99 80.37 68.12 62.55 62.69 40.34 72.13 19.85 59.16 66.20

Thanks everyone for comments. A matchstick can be ignited with lighter, by friction, etc. Even small bit of no flame fire also can ignite. Soldering rod at 125'C can also ignite.So we should not consider or added energy to it. I want to how much BTU/ KJ/ W-S stored in a matchstick. World over there are many matchstick making companies, majority in India!. I hope any CR4 member working in a matchstick company at least get me some crude answer. 1 BTU may be correct. If yes is ther ant standard any where?

That's about it.

Get your own crude answer. Get some matches, a beaker of water and a thermometer and do your own research.

You weren't specific as to whether you were burning the match or if you meant if it's mass were converted directly to energy. E=mc^2 will tell you how much energy you'd release if you consumed the matchstick with an equal quantity of antimatter.

Hi

, your question is simple yes , but I have to reply with another even more simple q. How can the answer for this question be practical? I hope you are not considering running your can on matches or use them to heat up your house.

But to give you an answer I can tell you that it is possible to find out, all materials have some energy measured in calories og jules, so you have to know all the materials in the match and the weight and then find out how much energy is in every material and then add them alla together with the + on your handheld calculator or you can make a list in excel file and make a formula to calculate the sum......or you can skip it and get yourself out of the house and look for a job :-)

Is this the <...energy...> of combustion, or the relativistic <...energy...> contained in its mass - E=mc² and all that?