Human Spontaneous Combustion... The Why

[Hervé]

People bursting into flames for no apparent reasons have always baffled me and many others.

Here is finally some indications on how and why it happens:

From : http://www.cambridge-news.co.uk/Home...y-21082012.htm


Professor's breakthrough on human combustion theory

Rachel Allen



Prof Brian J Ford

A Cambridge professor has tackled the issue of spontaneous combustion – using belly pork.

Prof Brian J Ford is a research biologist and author of more than 30 books, most about cell biology and microscopy but he has turned his attention to the mechanisms behind why people ‘explode’.

He said in an article in New Scientist: “One minute they may be relaxing in a chair, the next they erupt into a fireball.

“Jets of blue fire shoot from their bodies like flames from a blowtorch, and within half an hour they are reduced to a pile of ash.

“Typically, the legs remain unscathed sticking out grotesquely from the smoking cinders. Nearby objects – a pile of newspapers on the armrest, for example – are untouched.”

The first record of spontaneous combustion dates back to 1641 when Danish doctor and mathematician Thomas Bartholin described the death of Polonus Vorstius – who drank wine at home in Milan, Italy, one evening in 1470 before bursting into flames.

Since then more reports of spontaneous combustion have been filed and linked to alcoholism – though the link was later disproved.

The most recent case was 76-year-old Michael Faherty who died on December 22, 2010. West Galway coroner Ciaran McLoughlin recorded the cause of death as spontaneous human combustion.

Prof Ford wanted to disprove the alcoholism theory and also something called the ‘wick effect’ suggested by London coroner Gavin Thurston in 1961.

Thurston had described how human fat burns at about 250c, but if melted it will combust on a wick – such as clothes or other material – at room temperatures.

He wrote: “I felt it was time to test the realities, so we marinated pork abdominal tissue in ethanol for a week.

“Even when cloaked in gauze moistened with alcohol, it would not burn.

“Alcohol is not normally present in our tissues, but there is one flammable constituent in the body that can greatly increase in concentration.”

The body creates acetone, which is highly flammable.

He added: “A range of conditions can produce ketosis, in which acetone is formed, including alcoholism, fat-free dieting, diabetes and even teething.

“So we marinated pork tissue in acetone, rather than ethanol.

“This was used to make scale models of humans, which we clothed and set alight.

“They burned to ash within half an hour.

“For the first time a feasible cause of human combustion has been experimentally demonstrated.”

[SKAWF]

i had thought that maybe it was because our bodies are 90% water
and water is comprised of oxygen and hydrogen
plus we are also electrical.

and that maybe the electricity separates the hydrogen and oxygen in some way
and that possibly a static electrical charge ignites the two gasses.

later on i saw a video of a hydrogen fuel tank (from a car) burning
the idea was to prevent it from exploding

anyway, they set this thing on fire,
and the hydrogen seeped out and burned,
but did not explode.

i could be way off the mark with that theory

but then humans are not marinated in acetone (nail varnish remover)
so even though there is a logic behind the theory in the OP
it doesnt sit well with me.

usually, if something that has previously been an unknown
is explained....

then pennies start to drop, and things fall into place.
i dont get that from the op.

who knows though.

what is the resonant frequency of hydrogen?

maybe a microwave beam tuned to that frequency could
create enough friction that the heat could cause combustion

i dunno.

[GarethBKK]

Ketosis leading to the creation of acetone is a reasonable theory. Eye-witness reports do talk of a 'blue flame'. SKAWF, the hydrogen through electrolysis hypothesis is also good. I'd always thought it as connected with methane. I noticed that non-farting astronauts were desirable, but perhaps this was due to the comfort of fellow travellers, rather than safety.

[wynderer]

did the pigs give their permission for their organs to be used to prove some human's theory?

[The Truth Is In There]

Posted by Amzer Zo (here)
He added: “A range of conditions can produce ketosis, in which acetone is formed, including alcoholism, fat-free dieting, diabetes and even teething.

small correction - ketosis in the body happens not on a fat-free diet (which would be deadly) but on a low-carb or no-carb diet when the body burnes fat for fuel instead of sugar, evident for example by "acetone breath" if the body is not yet 100% adapted to fat burning and not enough water is consumed in order to excrete excessive ketones through the urine. it's a natural state and not harmful, quite the opposite in fact.

[Hervé]

What I got from the summary paper is that the guy managed to get rid of at least two theories littering the field.

By the same token, he also matched the blue flames along with the burning out in 1/2 hour into a pile of ash.

Also, acetone soaked tissues is not only biologically plausible but easier to achieve than hydrogen soaked ones.

In the end, it's the best starting point for further research that I ran into in a long while.

[pugwash84]

I got told it's what happens if you don't pass wind enough or take the Lords name in vain.

[Daughter of Time]

The Atkins diet puts the body in a state of ketosis which allows the body to burn a lot of calories.

The Atkins diet consists of only animal proteins and fats and nothing more except the occasional salad with no dressing because dressings contain carbs. However, the diet allows alcohol.

While people do lose weight on this very, imo, filthy diet, the bowels usually clog, causing blockages and cancer. But I've never heard of anyone becoming flammable on account of it. So if ketosis were the cause, then some people who have been on the Atkins diet for many years, surely would have combusted by now.

This may sound facetious, but any chance that those people might have been burning up inside on account of rage? Or perhaps, being burned at the stake or dying in a sudden fire in some past life? I guess that is something we'll never know. Fascinating though, how a body can go up in flames!

[NancyV]

Posted by pugwash84 (here)
I got told it's what happens if you don't pass wind enough or take the Lords name in vain.

Thanks for the laugh! Good thing it's NOT from taking the Lords name in vain or I would have been burnt up a thousand, gazillion times over!

[Daughter of Time]

Posted by wynderer (here)
did the pigs give their permission for their organs to be used to prove some human's theory?

Wyn,

I think you know the answer to your question above.

If I may respectfully suggest, perhaps you could start your own thread in regards to the use/misuse/abuse of animals. I think you would get a lot of replies much more to your satisfaction if you were to do that. Perhaps you will consider it?