Everything about Matches totally explained
A
match is a consumable
tool for lighting a
fire under controlled circumstances on demand. Matches are readily available, being sold by
tobacconists and many other kinds of shops. Matches are rarely sold singly; they're sold in multiples, packaged in match boxes or
matchbooks. A match is typically a
wooden stick (usually sold in match boxes) or stiff
paper stick (usually sold in matchbooks) coated at one end (the
match head) with a material often containing the element
phosphorus, which will ignite from the heat of
friction if rubbed ("struck") against a suitable surface. Gelatin is used as a binder in match heads.
There are two main types of matches:
safety matches, which can be struck only against a specially prepared surface; and
strike-anywhere matches, for which any solid surface can be used.
Match-type compositions may also be used to produce
electric matches, which are fired electrically. These items don't rely on the heat of friction.
History of the term match
match: 1350–1400;
Middle English macche (
wick) <
Middle French meiche,
Old French mesche <
Vulgar Latin *
mesca (
lamp wick),
metathetic variant of
Latin myxa <
Greek mýxa,
μυξα, (
mucus,
nostril,
nozzle of a lamp)
Historically, the term
match referred to lengths of
cord, or later
cambric, impregnated with chemicals, and allowed to burn continuously. An unsuccessful experiment by his professor, Meissner, gave Irinyi the idea to replace potassium chlorate with
lead dioxide in the head of the phosphorus match. Some heads contain
antimony(III) sulfide so they burn more vigorously. The act of striking converts some of the red phosphorus to white by friction heat. The small amount of white phosphorus then ignites, and this starts the combustion of the match head.
The Lundström brothers - James and Gray - had obtained a sample of red phosphorus from
Arthur Albright at
The Great Exhibition, held at
The Crystal Palace in 1851, and made safety matches with it. They misplaced the matches and didn't try them until just before the
Paris Exhibition of 1855. They were still usable.
Strike anywhere matches
Two French chemists, Savene and Cahen, developed a safety match using
phosphorus sesquisulfide. They proved that the substance wasn't poisonous, that it could be used in a "strike anywhere" match and that the match heads were not explosive.
Further Information
Get more info on 'Matches'.
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