What is a Combustion Reaction?

When a substance combines with oxygen and produces a large amount of energy in the form of heat and light, a combustion reaction is taking place. Oxygen can combust with compounds such as magnesium and sulfur. Here are some examples of sulfur and magnesium combustion reactions: here we have sulfur combusting with oxygen, and magnesium combusting with oxygen.

In addition to the compounds that they form, they are also creating energy in the forms of heat and light. Now, for any combustion reactions to take place they all require burning. Oxygen will always be a reactant. All these reactions have oxygen as a reaction—notice here oxygen is a reaction, oxygen is a reactant—because everything on the left side of the reaction equation (the reaction process) is a reactant.

Now, many carbon compounds such as propane, wood, and coal undergo combustion. Hydrocarbon combustion provides vast amounts of energy for home heating, industry, and making electricity. Burning hydrocarbons usually produces carbon dioxide gas and water vapor.

Now we have a sample combustion reaction here, it’s a hydrocarbon combustion reaction, because we have a hydrocarbon right here of methane. The reaction is taking place, we have the reactants over here, and then they form the products. Notice that one of the products is energy, and energy consists of heat and light.

In addition to all of this it’s creating, it’s also creating heat and light, so that makes it useful for other things like home heating, industry, and making electricity. Notice again here that we’re not really losing anything: see we had 4 hydrogens here, we have 4 hydrogens over here; we had 1 carbon here, we have 1 carbon here; we have 4 oxygens there, 2 of them here, and 2 of them here. We’re not losing anything, but we are creating these compounds in addition to heat and light.