Current Events > Someone give me the science explanation for this.

(+) Yeah! (+)

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/0/0b10cf72.jpg

Everything burnt to the ground in Los Angeles.

Palm and pine trees are fine.

What's the deal?

Palm trees are more resilient against extreme heat than most man-made houses. Same thing happened when Hawaii was on fire a while back.

Palm tree trunks are extremely fibrous and moist. IF you split one open you'd realise it makes really shitty firewood, it's not even really wood at all.

Even pine trees, if they are sufficiently watered and grounded - are hard to pull down with a fire. I imagine it's mostly a matter of the fire having better/easier things to burn.

If you cut down a tree right now, you'd still need at least a year of the wood sitting in a dry place before it can be used as firewood. That's how long it takes to dry out enough to become properly, decently flammable.

Wooden houses are going to be constructed from extremely dry wood. That stuff will just go up like a tinder.

The amount of energy it takes to evaporate all that water and create an environment (in the material) to burn is extreme, in this case.

Most of what burns during a forest fire isn't the trees, it's the brush and fallen stuff on the ground. Living trees are not that flammable, really.

They look severely damaged

The trees...

pinky0926 posted...

Palm tree trunks are extremely fibrous and moist. IF you split one open you'd realise it makes really shitty firewood, it's not even really wood at all.

Even pine trees, if they are sufficiently watered and grounded - are hard to pull down with a fire. I imagine it's mostly a matter of the fire having better/easier things to burn.

If you cut down a tree right now, you'd still need at least a year of the wood sitting in a dry place before it can be used as firewood. That's how long it takes to dry out enough to become properly, decently flammable.

Wooden houses are going to be constructed from extremely dry wood. That stuff will just go up like a tinder.

The amount of energy it takes to evaporate all that water and create an environment (in the material) to burn is extreme, in this case.

I see. That makes sense.

Science works in mysterious ways.

Life, uh, finds a way.

_____Cait posted...

They look severely damaged

This. The only tree in that photo that isnt 100% torched is the palm
in the front, and it got pretty severely damaged as only parts of a few fronds are still green

pinky0926 posted...

Palm tree trunks are extremely fibrous and moist. IF you split one open you'd realise it makes really shitty firewood, it's not even really wood at all.

Even pine trees, if they are sufficiently watered and grounded - are hard to pull down with a fire. I imagine it's mostly a matter of the fire having better/easier things to burn.

If you cut down a tree right now, you'd still need at least a year of the wood sitting in a dry place before it can be used as firewood. That's how long it takes to dry out enough to become properly, decently flammable.

Wooden houses are going to be constructed from extremely dry wood. That stuff will just go up like a tinder.

The amount of energy it takes to evaporate all that water and create an environment (in the material) to burn is extreme, in this case.

This

People look at a fire scene and immediately assume directed energy weapons instead of trees simply having a ton of moisture.

Trees have lots of water in them.