The Science of Wildfires

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  • เผยแพร่เมื่อ 5 พ.ค. 2024
  • So, what is fire, exactly? What causes fires in the wild, and how do we put them out? SciShow answers your burning questions about the science of fire. (See what we did there?)
    Hosted by: Michael Aranda
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    Sources:
    www.srs.fs.usda.gov/factsheet/...
    www.seas.harvard.edu/news/2013...
    www.nytimes.com/2014/05/16/us/...
    www.mnr.gov.on.ca/en/Business/...
    www.citylab.com/politics/2013/...
    www.onearth.org/article/forest...
    www.onearth.org/articles/2013/...
    www.livescience.com/26257-figh...
    www.hcn.org/issues/44.16/fire...
    thinkprogress.org/climate/2013...
    www.eenews.net/stories/1059941462
    www.borealforest.org/world/inn...
    www.nifc.gov/PUBLICATIONS/com...
    www.nytimes.com/2013/09/05/bus...
    extension.oregonstate.edu/gard...
    www.epa.gov/burnwise/workshop2...
    virtual.vtt.fi/virtual/innofir...
    www.epa.gov/burnwise/workshop2...
    scienceline.ucsb.edu/getkey.ph...

ความคิดเห็น • 709

  • @heatherheward870
    @heatherheward870 7 ปีที่แล้ว +19

    As a fire educator at the University of Idaho I appreciated this positive shout out to fire. We need more things like this. My only complaint is that the image of a "dense" forest was of a bald cypress swamp that does not burn often anyway. With so many stock images of crowded pine stands I am not sure why that was used.

    • @watercoinzero
      @watercoinzero 2 ปีที่แล้ว

      th-cam.com/video/i9aNSlDQ5v4/w-d-xo.html
      #ChainsawOverKill
      #ElectrifyTheFireLine
      #DownWithWildFires

  • @MrMbc77
    @MrMbc77 9 ปีที่แล้ว +76

    You know, I really dont understand why the news doesnt explain things like this when they speak about forest fires. Its always covered what is happened but never the underlying reasons as to why and how we can help to reach balance.

    • @leigha.b.1875
      @leigha.b.1875 9 ปีที่แล้ว +7

      Well, usually when a fire is on the news people are more focused on putting it out rather than what started. And most of the ones big enough to make the news are started by lightning or lava, like he said. They never tell you this, but most of the human started fires don't get to be very big and are contained quickly, probably because they are close to where people frequently are so they get reported quicker, whereas a lightning strike could be at a top of a mountain where there is nothing but trees and no people there. It can sit in a tree for almost a week after the lightning strike before coming out and starting a wild fire, and even then people might not notice it for long enough for it to become dangerous if the fire is in certain places.

    • @jojo300001
      @jojo300001 9 ปีที่แล้ว +11

      Change the word news to media, and you have your answer. It's the job of the media to entertain and attract viewers.

    • @gamesman0118
      @gamesman0118 9 ปีที่แล้ว +5

      It's a result of "News" becoming a salable commodity rather than a source of information.

    • @Katerine459
      @Katerine459 9 ปีที่แล้ว +4

      jojo300001 And yet, in the past week, this video was watched, voluntarily, 150 thousand times. :)

    • @jojo300001
      @jojo300001 9 ปีที่แล้ว

      Katerine459 I haven't a clue as to what you're talking about.

  • @RainAngel111
    @RainAngel111 9 ปีที่แล้ว +24

    My uncle lives in a small town that recently burned down because of a wildfire. Only his house and a few commercial areas were spared. He saw it coming and started spraying the house down with his garden hose, just soaked everything. He lost the shed, but the house was barely singed.

  • @phrygianphreak5408
    @phrygianphreak5408 9 ปีที่แล้ว +48

    I'm surprised they didn't mention the human adaptation to wildfires.
    For example, the Native Americans would commonly practice slash-and-burn. Other cultures did this, but usually only to farmlands. Native Americans, however, noticed how fertile land was after a wildfire and began setting off huge wildfires every decade or so, usually when they noticed a dense layer of dead leaves on the ground that began to choke out the lower lying grass and flowers. Its interesting how we, at least in america, went from taking care of not enough wildfires to causing waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay too many.

    • @justinblake420
      @justinblake420 2 ปีที่แล้ว

      Natives never burn the scrub ya dome they accidentally set fire to it n didnt care or have a way of putting it out

  • @commiedoge747
    @commiedoge747 9 ปีที่แล้ว +89

    WHY DOESN'T HE BLINK!

    • @cindys9491
      @cindys9491 6 ปีที่แล้ว +14

      Or breathe. The editing makes me nervous. It's like one long sentence.

    • @broidontknowwhatmyusername7948
      @broidontknowwhatmyusername7948 5 ปีที่แล้ว +5

      He did

    • @emilio8202
      @emilio8202 5 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      And breath.

    • @shristiadhikari
      @shristiadhikari 5 ปีที่แล้ว +2

      My thoughts exactly 😂😂

    • @gabecota4004
      @gabecota4004 5 ปีที่แล้ว +8

      It’s perfectly synchronized with when you blink

  • @FirekillerDnB
    @FirekillerDnB 9 ปีที่แล้ว +6

    Glad to see my profession being highlighted on this video. I've got 10 years experience in many fuel types. from the northwest "rain forests" to the rocky mountains. even the swamps of the south. Different fuels cause different fire behavior.
    I'm curious how you got that number that 95% of fires are human caused. that might have been true 30 years ago but i don't think that's the case anymore. I'd say 80% of the fires i've been on have been caused by lightening. But I work on a hand crew. we go where there are no roads to get into the fire. This number must count all the grass fires on the side of the road and stuff like that.

  • @cloverhighfive
    @cloverhighfive 9 ปีที่แล้ว +5

    I remember when Michael was not sure he'd be good at this. Wow. Michael, you're reallllllyyyy good at this. Very happy you're an official co-host :D

  • @springbok4015
    @springbok4015 3 ปีที่แล้ว +2

    I’m here after a fairly fierce fire started on Table Mountain, Cape Town. I have not seen a fire move so quickly and intensely before inside a city. This is the first time that a fire moved around the mountain, gutting parts of one of Africa’s best universities (UCT) before moving into suburbs and setting trees and houses on fire. Fortunately the fire teams have brought it under control.
    Thanks for this video, I know a little bit more about forest fires now.

  • @OurayTheOwl
    @OurayTheOwl 9 ปีที่แล้ว +2

    I literally hiked through a wildfire this past Tuesday on my weekly hike. It had mostly run its course with only small pockets of flames, but the fire still burned underground nearly melting my boots in certain areas and continued to smolder for days after my pass through. And yes, it was due to human neglect.

  • @MoStLy1aWaKE
    @MoStLy1aWaKE 7 ปีที่แล้ว +2

    This video was shown in my fire fighting training course. I think I was the only guy there that had watched some of your videos beforehand.

  • @Irrazzo
    @Irrazzo 9 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    In one documentary, they said that grasses are younger plants in the evolutionary than trees, and appeared around 100 million years (or a bit more, I forgot). According to that documentary, much of the land was covered in forest. Some grasses evolved to burn lightly with high temperature which led to thousands of years of global and heavy wildfires. Grass was fighting the trees, claiming territory.

  • @KingDecahedron
    @KingDecahedron 9 ปีที่แล้ว +104

    Fire actually needs 4 things; heat. oxygen, fuel and Marshmallows !

  • @zachariebolduc7931
    @zachariebolduc7931 9 ปีที่แล้ว

    That was one the most informative episode you did i long time thank you for this.

  • @blackoak4978
    @blackoak4978 7 ปีที่แล้ว

    More in-depth than I expected, good job!

  • @FredHMusic-gr7nu
    @FredHMusic-gr7nu 9 ปีที่แล้ว

    This was a VERY informative video and it is pretty dense too. This is a great video for school revision and I would highly recommend others to watch it as well.

  • @HeyItzVanity
    @HeyItzVanity 4 ปีที่แล้ว +35

    7:21 he really just predicted the possible fires in Australia

    • @daliapantoja2028
      @daliapantoja2028 4 ปีที่แล้ว

      True

    • @theshuman100
      @theshuman100 3 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      wow its almost as if climate scientist actually research climate trends and predict where theyre headed if allowed to continue

    • @wildflower1397
      @wildflower1397 3 ปีที่แล้ว +2

      Yes! I am watching during the wildfires in Oregon and the whole west coast, September 2020. They have been devastating, with "mega fire" being too mild a term to describe them. Reminds me of Bill Gates warning us that a pandemic could happen at any time. Both scenarios were largely ignored as possibilities, yet here I am in COVID-19 lockdown and I can't even go outside because the smokey air is not safe to breathe.

  • @Mysteryskatin
    @Mysteryskatin 8 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    One of the coolest things about large fires is their ability to create their own weather systems. (Yeah, they actually *try* to teach us firefighters science, heh. We don't just hike and smack the ground with tools all the time.)
    The smoke plume of large fires can produce thunderstorms, which ignite small fires in front of the head of the main fire via lightning. In an unstable atmosphere firewhirls can grow very large. In '14 there was a F1 scale tornado made out of fire in N. Cal that snapped Doug Fir like toothpicks.
    It's also pretty hard for people to understand why we light the forest on fire to stop forest fires. We spend a lot of our time lighting shit on fire - it's like legal arson. Greatest job in the world. :P

  • @amyschofield246
    @amyschofield246 6 ปีที่แล้ว

    This video was very helpful in understanding wildfires. I just watched Only the Brave and was wondering why they occurred.

  • @CrownGamingAU
    @CrownGamingAU 8 ปีที่แล้ว +46

    Oh, okay. A wildfire is faster than me and it can follow me up and down hills. Anybody know any good deals on house-boats?

  • @Fionasichanie
    @Fionasichanie 8 หลายเดือนก่อน +1

    Most of the wildfires in California leave confusing aftermath photos such as trees burnt from the inside with leaves still intact yet cars nearby with melted out windows and aluminum!

  • @AlexFireSmith
    @AlexFireSmith 9 ปีที่แล้ว

    Very interesting episode. I've wanted this to be covered for a while.

  • @shawnd649
    @shawnd649 4 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    they really do add fertilizer after sometime from a past fire you can tell where they drop it. a line of early sprout ups

  • @mycoffeemyday
    @mycoffeemyday 4 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    Rx fires literally here. Even some of our native plants won't grow without reaching sufficient heat first. But, being the lightning capitol of the world, that naturally occurs often enough without carelessness.

  • @SmashtheCmachine
    @SmashtheCmachine 9 ปีที่แล้ว +5

    I knew quite a bit about this subject, but leave it to Scishow to inform me of what I did not!
    I knew about the cycle of fires involving the nutrients, and providing moisture/sunlight to new vegetation, and the three factors contributing to them, but about the "sticky-water", and the science of firefighting, I was pretty clueless.

    • @AmphiptereSiX
      @AmphiptereSiX 9 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      That's what I like about Sci-show. I see plenty of episodes on topics I already know a bit about, but Sci-show always goes that little bit further to explain things.

    • @SmashtheCmachine
      @SmashtheCmachine 9 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      Ampphed Indeed! This show is great. The thing that bothers me is that by the time I think of a good question, it's already addressed in the QQ segment lol

    • @AmphiptereSiX
      @AmphiptereSiX 9 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      *****
      Haha. Upside being they'll probably never run out of good questions to answer :D

    • @SmashtheCmachine
      @SmashtheCmachine 9 ปีที่แล้ว

      Ampphed That's a great thing, because science is AMAZING, and I look forward to many more years of learning about this shit!

  • @jellybeans5857
    @jellybeans5857 8 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    I once met a forest firefighter who told our group of 16 year old junior rangers that if they were to encounter a forest fire, their best bet was to run into the forest fire as no one could outrun them. And that they would be safe on the other side. Im now wondering if he hated teens.

  • @whereeveritgoes
    @whereeveritgoes 9 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    The last part of this video really amazes me. When you tell someone in your house that putting out wildfire too frequently could result in larger wildfire in the future, they would go, "Wut?" This video explains it well. Glad I didn't skip this!

  • @Borednesss
    @Borednesss 9 ปีที่แล้ว

    I remember being on a road trip a few years ago, I was going through Oklahoma I believe and was driving through thick smoke that covered the highway. Then I realized there was a lot of fire burning in the wooded area just 20 feet off the road... wild fire sounds like a pretty simple concept to imagine, but it was very strange to actually see it right in front of me. Just something about it gave me a weird feeling

  • @TheMinecrafter4000
    @TheMinecrafter4000 9 ปีที่แล้ว

    Congrats on 2 million subs! Keep the videos coming!

  • @leoyan8581
    @leoyan8581 6 ปีที่แล้ว

    Great!!! I like SciShows narrated by Michael Aranda better than anyone else from SciShow.

  • @evanpro00
    @evanpro00 9 ปีที่แล้ว

    Nice 600 after exactly 2,000,000 subs. Keep up good work

  • @ChimeraReiax
    @ChimeraReiax 9 ปีที่แล้ว

    Wow, I think this is Aranda's first > 5 Minute episode, correct me if I'm wrong, and he did a great job with it!
    Fire is such a beautiful, strange thing, isn't it? It's cool how much it affects and, in some cases, benefits forests.

  • @EJGilb
    @EJGilb 9 ปีที่แล้ว

    Gz on 2 mill subscribers on this channel hank and crew!

  • @seb612schuth
    @seb612schuth 9 ปีที่แล้ว

    ¡Michael! I have the same hoodie-sweather, love it.
    The show was awesome, too :D

  • @erin3
    @erin3 9 ปีที่แล้ว

    I prefer Michael's delivery to Hank's. Hank speaks so quickly and drops consonants, particularly toward the end of sentences. Enunciate!

  • @Weendigo172
    @Weendigo172 9 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    Hey guys! I'd just like to make a short distinction here: Volatile gases are not the same thing as smoke. All you guys are saying about the volatile gases emitted by hot wood and how they are expelled is completely true, but this is one important distinction to make.
    What we "know as smoke" as you say, is simply an aerosol of liquid and solid particle, commonly soot, ash, various non-flammable or unignited liquids and so on, which rises off the wood because the gases and particles in the aerosol are hotter than surrounding air. It is of course true, though, that smoke does contain flammable vapours and gases.
    However, it's important to know the difference, because dry wood starts emitting volatile gases at temperatures as low as 100 degrees Celsius, but doesn't ignite until temperatures ranging from 280 to 500 degrees Celsius, depending on the circumstances, such as if there is a flame involved or if it spontaneously combusts. Various online sources give different estimates, and every type of wood is different(pine with its high resin content, densely packed cork, etc). Otherwise, great episode, and I love the show! Keep up the good work. :)

  • @goliathprime
    @goliathprime 9 ปีที่แล้ว

    This was a fantastic episode.

  • @MyDisturbingOctopus
    @MyDisturbingOctopus 9 ปีที่แล้ว +7

    i enjoy learning new things from scishow, but i really like hearing things i already know. it makes me feel smart. it's a good feeling.

  • @Tyrog
    @Tyrog 9 ปีที่แล้ว

    I've never noticed before but you are actually using the Metric system! Great!

  • @kRis-rn6so
    @kRis-rn6so 5 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    This explains everything perfectly.

  • @jeremyphelps5140
    @jeremyphelps5140 9 ปีที่แล้ว +11

    When you say that 9 out of 10 wildfires are started by humans, all I hear is that somewhere out there, a Bear knows how to use matches...

  • @jayan.s.1672
    @jayan.s.1672 9 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    Fire is terrifying and completely awesome at the same time.
    Also: I really like your hair (:

  • @samwilliams6679
    @samwilliams6679 9 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    Congrats on 2 million subscribers!

  • @Levifold
    @Levifold 9 ปีที่แล้ว

    Bushfires in Australia are always particularly interesting (if that's the right word to use) in the speed they spread and how dangerous they can be. Eucalyptus trees make up a huge percentage of our forests, and contain a large amount of naturally occurring oils in their leaves, which evaporates on warmer days, giving them a bluish look from a distance. They're very volatile for this reason, and have been known to literally explode when ignited. Apparently BoM is predicting a bad year for it again this coming summer.

  • @leahchristian775
    @leahchristian775 4 ปีที่แล้ว +9

    Watching this in January 2020 to understand the apocalyptic fires going on in Australia right now.

  • @cabey6299
    @cabey6299 7 ปีที่แล้ว

    The 2009 Kinglake fire in Australia reached 1000 degrees Celsius and traveled at 40 km an hour. Due to a wind change it reached a 100km fire front (width)

  • @ay613
    @ay613 4 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    thanks for the vid well layed out.

  • @skeight976
    @skeight976 9 ปีที่แล้ว +2

    love the science of fire and chemical reactions which cause fires.

  • @darthsavage4025
    @darthsavage4025 9 ปีที่แล้ว

    Well done on the hectare pronunciation! John Green would be proud! :)

  • @lazarnikolic65
    @lazarnikolic65 3 ปีที่แล้ว

    Watching this after Australia wildfire 2020
    Tnnnnx yt recommendation! :3

  • @Torguish
    @Torguish 9 ปีที่แล้ว +10

    Is it just me or Michael was evolving into Hank slowly as the episode progressed. Especially in the end. I thought it was actually Hank since i didn't have the window open. :D

    • @raritythefabulous
      @raritythefabulous 9 ปีที่แล้ว +7

      I noticed that. It's almost like he's been working on his speech patterns and pacing to try to sound more like Hank, since a lot of people get upset when Hank's not the presenter.

    • @Channel-kr4ml
      @Channel-kr4ml 9 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      raritythefabulous that's funny I like Hank s videos he seems natural. It seems like Mike tries a little harder . I still love watching . And. It's so funny if you watch their hands moving .

    • @FictualKyle
      @FictualKyle 7 ปีที่แล้ว

      Torrdog he's even better now tbh

  • @misssmarteepants3465
    @misssmarteepants3465 4 ปีที่แล้ว

    Do a video on Phos Chek! That stuff is pretty gnarly.

  • @QuannanHade
    @QuannanHade 9 ปีที่แล้ว

    In Australia it's particularly nasty - all of the native flora are specifically designed to catch fire at the drop of a hat, burn very intensely, and yet still remain burning for a significant length of time.

  • @GoRepairs
    @GoRepairs 9 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    I always wondered what was in the chemicals they dump on fires, well now I know. :)

  • @iitbftw
    @iitbftw 9 ปีที่แล้ว

    Congrats on 2 mill

  • @OurayTheOwl
    @OurayTheOwl 9 ปีที่แล้ว +13

    controlled burning is an underutilized preventative measure simply due to the amount of labor it requires over vast areas and the nearly impossible conditions needed for optimum safety. Its used most often as a reactionary tool to fight fires rather than a conservation effort. More foresters and better conservation funding is needed if the US wants to really address the wildfire issue, otherwise that money is simply going to go into more firefighters and more disaster relief checks.

    • @Twosocks42
      @Twosocks42 9 ปีที่แล้ว +4

      Last I knew the Oregon Forestry program still did them--they were actively recruiting back when I was in high school (came around the junior high schools and high schools trying to get kids interested in doing OSU's (Oregon State that is) program. Could not say with confidence if that is still the case or not.

    • @derekcormier2881
      @derekcormier2881 9 ปีที่แล้ว +4

      Controlled Burning is still used in Arizona

    • @Primalxbeast
      @Primalxbeast 9 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      In Florida, controlled burns are done quite often.

    • @Primalxbeast
      @Primalxbeast 9 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      "In an average year the Florida Forest Service will issue 120,000 authorizations allowing people and agencies to prescribe burn their land. An average of over 2 million acres are treated with prescribed fire each year."

    • @OurayTheOwl
      @OurayTheOwl 9 ปีที่แล้ว +2

      Its good to see that all of you are all well informed in regards to your respective areas. I too have been involved with controlled burns, down in new mexico. However, i did not imply that they weren't used, but underused.
      Even if 2 million acres are maintained each year in a 40 million acre state, even smaller proportions are maintained in other states. With a landmass millions of square miles to deal with (that is the US Rocky Mt. and West Coast region) even 5% controlled is on a grand scale.
      With a close to 7 million annual average acres destroyed for this last decade i feel like the scale simply needs to be increased, not that we should start, because as you all know and have pointed out, we are already doing it.

  • @LeiosLabs
    @LeiosLabs 9 ปีที่แล้ว

    In Los Alamos, There was a huge forest fire a few years back. We had to evacuate the lab and everything.

  • @WeddingCater
    @WeddingCater 9 ปีที่แล้ว

    I just realized you guys hit 2000000 subs! congrats!

  • @equarg
    @equarg 9 ปีที่แล้ว

    I was in the forest service for a summer after high-school.
    This covered the major topics pretty well.
    Ever see a 200 year old pine tree torch up after being exposed to a grass fire for 3 minuets?
    At 60 yards away the heat turned my face red and it looked like the gates of hell opening up right in front of me. Not to mention dodging exploding pinecones.
    As a polite girl....I could not stop cursing for half an hour.....my supervisor blamed my adrenalin rush.
    I still have one of the pinecones that exploded away from that tree!

  • @ariccastro
    @ariccastro 9 ปีที่แล้ว

    I've been studying fire science for 5 years now. This is the first time I've heard of gels being used to fight fire. I've always been told there were foams very similar to soap that reduce water tension and make the water penetrate the fuel better, and form an oxygen smothering blanket over the fuel.

    • @yosefmacgruber1920
      @yosefmacgruber1920 8 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      Aric Castro
      Why aren't gels used more for structure fires? What is the point of pouring the water on, so that it runs off, while the fire still burns? Merely to cool the fire, so that it sort of stalls out eventually? Gels are sticky and stick all over the fuel, stopping it from burning.
      And I think more natural forest fires should be left to burn wild, to fizzle or grow naturally depending on how the weather is, out in remote unpopulated areas. Why pollute forests with costly fire retardants, that may make little difference anyway? Backburns seems rather pointless, if there is no human-dominated area to protect, areas from which the fire must be steered away from. Seems like backburns add even more burned acres to the fire, when it could have slowed or calmed down maybe on its own? Forest fires can too easily grow too large too quickly, to cost-effectively fight, and those that don't, often are no big deal and don't even make the news.
      BTW, could chem-trails and other idiotic government policies, be making natural forest fires, unnatural or making them worse? Government and mad-scientists always seem to be tampering with something, making it worse.

  • @AuthenticTerrificRickCastle
    @AuthenticTerrificRickCastle 9 ปีที่แล้ว +2

    2 million subscribers! Impressive)
    Way to go)
    Great video)

    • @lakshayrattan4454
      @lakshayrattan4454 9 ปีที่แล้ว

      Ok)
      Nice to know)

    • @GeorgePerakis
      @GeorgePerakis 9 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      Why are we writing like this)
      Wouldn't periods and question/exclamation marks do a better job)
      Parentheses are not meant to be used like this)

    • @lakshayrattan4454
      @lakshayrattan4454 9 ปีที่แล้ว

      I believe we have made a new type of speech)
      Good job)
      I think this will revolutionise the way we type)
      👍👍)

    • @AuthenticTerrificRickCastle
      @AuthenticTerrificRickCastle 9 ปีที่แล้ว

      Lakshay Rattan George Perakis Have you guys heared of the LISP programming language syntax?))))))

    • @GeorgePerakis
      @GeorgePerakis 9 ปีที่แล้ว

      Raxusking No, should we have?

  • @polloman29
    @polloman29 9 ปีที่แล้ว

    who knew there were so much to know about wildfires!

  • @Fl0ep
    @Fl0ep 9 ปีที่แล้ว +13

    SciShow is not helping John make Hectacre a thing, I think that is a good thing :D

    • @SciShow
      @SciShow  9 ปีที่แล้ว +24

      Fl0ep John's already got enough things! No more things for John.
      - Valerie

    • @survivalizer
      @survivalizer 8 ปีที่แล้ว

      +Fl0ep I was going to say... at least he didn't say hectacre

  • @UnknownXV
    @UnknownXV 9 ปีที่แล้ว

    Isn't it astounding how something as small and simple as a beetle can lead to more wildfires. Everything is connected and has ripple effects. It's very cool and scary.

  • @norrisalex1203
    @norrisalex1203 9 ปีที่แล้ว

    Thanks for mentioning us Australians SciShow! Even the weather wants to kill you down here. No tree is safe either, we have a tree called the stinging tree (imaginative, I know) that is like poison ivy, except taken to Australian levels of painful/lethal effects. Its stings have been known to drive horses of cliffs because of the pain. It's not all bad though, some of the toxins in the plant are very promising for cancer research. Might I suggest a video on the medical significance of natural toxins, it's quite cool what we can do with the the deadly things that we find in nature.

  • @TheWaspist
    @TheWaspist 5 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    Never seen someone talking about wild fires and smiling this much. Wow

  • @brendenpischke6060
    @brendenpischke6060 8 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    Yeah here in Canada I sometimes wonder how anything can be left in British Columbia because it seams to always be on fire. There was one year where a fire there was so big that it covered all of lower Canada in smoke. The days were dark and people tried staying indoors. If you had to go outside, you but on a mask.

    • @brendenpischke6060
      @brendenpischke6060 8 ปีที่แล้ว

      Hmmmm, every comment I make to start conversations seems to go the wrong way. Never been much of a good conversation starter, maybe I should stop trying.

    • @brendenpischke6060
      @brendenpischke6060 8 ปีที่แล้ว

      Okay, it's not always me then. Some people are just ass holes.

    • @grettagrids
      @grettagrids 8 ปีที่แล้ว

      Phillip Unrau yes this world IS full of assholes.. and I hope god or nature will soon rid the world of evil and selfish people that dont care about others or nature.

    • @WalkerRileyMC
      @WalkerRileyMC 8 ปีที่แล้ว

      +Phillip Unrau Dude....honestly.....People might take you a minute more seriously if you'd just format your posts so they are legible. Don't give me the "english isn't my first language" crap. You obviously know english. Your spelling, misuse and just blatant incorrect usage of punctuation, random capitalization, random comments, random....randomness....is just horrid.
      If you want to be taken seriously, please just format your posts so they are legible and clear. Else-wise I see what you wrote and immediately think you are trolling.

    • @7firefly763
      @7firefly763 7 ปีที่แล้ว

      #FortMac

  • @yin7yang7wolf7
    @yin7yang7wolf7 9 ปีที่แล้ว

    i'm glad your back hank needs to use you more often.

  • @ph11p3540
    @ph11p3540 3 ปีที่แล้ว

    Some of the worst wild fires are soil based thanks to massive quantities of accumulated dead plant matter mixed in the topsoil. This is why smoke jumpers keep shoveling the topsoil down to subsoil when they form a fire line.

  • @altareggo
    @altareggo 4 ปีที่แล้ว

    "What;s not to love about fire??"..... as a 9 year old, that was my favorite question!!

  • @zero_meercat8624
    @zero_meercat8624 4 ปีที่แล้ว +8

    put the speed at 0.75 if u want to understand what the hells going on

  • @amandaegeskovhald8222
    @amandaegeskovhald8222 9 ปีที่แล้ว

    Scandinavia just had its first wildfire in centuries, it was an unusually hot and dry summer this year.

  • @filiperodrigues1480
    @filiperodrigues1480 5 ปีที่แล้ว

    Hi
    Can you tell me the name of the study from american geophysical union?
    I would like to read it
    Thanks

  • @yogurtfluff1
    @yogurtfluff1 9 ปีที่แล้ว

    The biggest problem with bushfires in Australia is the oil in eucalyptus leaves is exceptionally flammable so massive gum trees can flame up in only a couple of seconds.

  • @Isacdelamau
    @Isacdelamau 9 ปีที่แล้ว

    We had a wildfire in northern Sweden just a couple of weeks ago.

  • @MrWildlandman
    @MrWildlandman 9 ปีที่แล้ว

    In my experience most human caused fires are form escaped or unattended camp fires. These fires are small no larger than a tenth of an acre (~ 4,000 sq ft). Do the statics the NPS provide differentiate between small human caused and large human caused?

  • @jeremyreff5976
    @jeremyreff5976 7 ปีที่แล้ว +2

    every time they say 90% of forest fires are caused by humans I wonder how much that was in prehistory because we've controlled fire for a while and it's possible that nature adapted to our carelessness with it

  • @LarryPhischman
    @LarryPhischman 9 ปีที่แล้ว +31

    You could put out wildfires with low yield nuclear weapons. Detonate the warhead high enough that the thermal flash and fireball don't reach the ground, and the air blast will blow out the flames. The smallest American boosted fission warheads were actually pretty clean, the radiation well below safety limits after a few days. You could also use a thermobaric bomb, but those are larger and more expensive than small nukes.

    • @GarethField
      @GarethField 9 ปีที่แล้ว +92

      Maths or it didn't happen.

    • @xZibeGx
      @xZibeGx 9 ปีที่แล้ว +35

      Or you could just simply thin out the dense forests which would prevent the fire from getting out of control like we usually do....

    • @JacobShepley
      @JacobShepley 9 ปีที่แล้ว +47

      Still wouldn't work. the explosion would remove the air for a short period of time. The fire would reignite once the air returned because the material would still be hot.

    • @TonyJSayHi
      @TonyJSayHi 9 ปีที่แล้ว +7

      Don't quote me, but I would imagine that would be alot more expensive than our current methods just to build a nuclear bomb to detonate to wipe out a forest fires, not to mention convincing the local human population and media to allow it along with other complication like radiation, etc.
      Disclaimer: In no way am I insulting you. Actually I enjoy reading your unorthodox method. ^^

    • @LarryPhischman
      @LarryPhischman 9 ปีที่แล้ว +10

      Public opinion doesn't matter, this is America. And we have the nukes lying around in storage.

  • @carlosl5125
    @carlosl5125 9 ปีที่แล้ว +11

    I think I saw him blink 3 times, maybe 4?

  • @Toimi
    @Toimi 9 ปีที่แล้ว

    We had a pretty bad fire in northern sweden last summer. I think it was the biggest in swedens recorded history or something like that.

  • @jr.jokers2999
    @jr.jokers2999 9 ปีที่แล้ว +3

    So many heck takers in this episode.

  • @4ssataa588
    @4ssataa588 3 ปีที่แล้ว +2

    bruh i’m only watching this bc i’m in class and the teacher is making us 😭😭😭 LMAO.

    • @krixoo
      @krixoo 3 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      SAME LAMFOOO😭😭💀

    • @4ssataa588
      @4ssataa588 3 ปีที่แล้ว

      @@krixoo BDMSHSSJSJ

  • @stormrunner9435
    @stormrunner9435 ปีที่แล้ว

    I met the person that took the picture you used a the thumbnail. I have a copy of the original somewhere.

  • @connerd5647
    @connerd5647 9 ปีที่แล้ว

    damn right. Maryland!!!!

  • @2Barts1
    @2Barts1 9 ปีที่แล้ว

    Congrats on 2 milion subs

  • @oHeihei
    @oHeihei 9 ปีที่แล้ว

    Interesting. California's King fire (just about burnt 100,000 acres and is only 55% contained) is less than 20 miles from where I grew up so it's all over my facebook news feed. Nice relevant video :) At least there's something positive that comes from all of this.

  • @WomanSlayer69420
    @WomanSlayer69420 5 ปีที่แล้ว +2

    *sees massive forest fire in the mountains*
    meanwhile...
    *struggles to actually start the fire in my own fireplace*

  • @AssClappicus
    @AssClappicus 9 ปีที่แล้ว

    Primary and secondary succession! I remember my high school biology.

  • @harshvatwani2202
    @harshvatwani2202 3 ปีที่แล้ว

    I liked the way he said world in the end.

  • @Minciditi
    @Minciditi 9 ปีที่แล้ว

    He's gotten so much better since he started. I remember when he first appeared and I was like WHO IS THIS GUY? WHERES HANK? He spoke much more slowly than Hank and as a result the video came across kind of boring. In his most recent videos he's become a lot more fun to listen to! He's seemed to have taken in a bit of Hanks rhythm. I enjoyed this video.

  • @_mew
    @_mew 9 ปีที่แล้ว

    Under 250 club c:
    Awesome video guys!
    Keep it up!

  • @GopherTheNuts
    @GopherTheNuts 9 ปีที่แล้ว

    5:35 "Helping to reduce the usefulness's fuel" :) I thought I was hearing things. Apparently not lol.

  • @nudist1033
    @nudist1033 8 ปีที่แล้ว

    Watch the following video for a SERIOUS suggestion as to how to quell wildfires all over the entire Mountain and Pacific time zones.
    "California Firefighters Over 8,000 firefighters battling over 20 wildfires in California".

  • @furyking380
    @furyking380 9 ปีที่แล้ว

    Off-shore oil drills also use incendiary missiles to starve an oil platform fire of oxygen before it gets to destructive. Of course, it's also extremely dangerous, but so is letting an off-shore oil platform burn.

  • @symbmanila3900
    @symbmanila3900 9 ปีที่แล้ว

    Its good to hear that you're not trying to sound like Hank Green anymore, and be more different.

  • @diodejr9385
    @diodejr9385 9 ปีที่แล้ว

    Smoky u r awesome

  • @JETBLAST88
    @JETBLAST88 9 ปีที่แล้ว

    Off-topic, but what microphone do you use?

  • @Tfin
    @Tfin 9 ปีที่แล้ว +3

    That 90% - 10% statistic is nice, but that's counting individual fires, not area burned by those fires. The area statistics, last time I looked them up, put natural fires on top by a wide margin.

    • @asdgashash
      @asdgashash 9 ปีที่แล้ว

      I was confused about firefighters putting enough of a dent to get the natural firecycle out of whack, when 90% of that is artificial.

    • @Tfin
      @Tfin 9 ปีที่แล้ว +3

      asdgashash
      Yeah. In 2008, humans were responsible for most of the burning (by area) in the US. For the rest of the decade 2001-10, lightning burned larger areas. Especially notable was 2004, where humans caused 83% of fires, but lightning burned 88% of the affected acreage.

  • @justincruz6197
    @justincruz6197 5 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    #PrayForCalifornia :( Much love from the PH.

  • @brickpig
    @brickpig 9 ปีที่แล้ว

    It seems like happiness is right in front of you. If you love learning then happiness may be in you learning. You just may be better off learning with other people if thats the kind of happiness i think your talking about.

  • @jarksten524
    @jarksten524 9 ปีที่แล้ว

    Could you guys talk about bruises
    Because that always baffled me