A match is a fire-making tool that uses the violent oxidation-reduction reaction of certain substances to generate high temperatures and ignite. A match consists of two parts: the match head (ignition medium) and the match stem (combustion medium). Match heads mainly contain oxidizing agents and reducing agents. Common match heads contain phosphorus.
Principle
A flammable mixture is adhered to one end of a small stick or other fairly strong flammable material, which will ignite upon friction and thus ignite. A typical match is made of a wooden or paper stick with phosphorus attached to one end. The phosphorus-attached end is called a match head. When the match head rubs against a suitable surface, the burning point of phosphorus is low due to frictional heat, so the match head Starts burning, which in turn burns the short stick, thus igniting the fire. There are two main types of matches: safety matches and universal matches. Safety matches only ignite when the match head rubs against a specially prepared surface; universal matches can ignite on any rough surface.
When lit
When burned
Matches appeared in China very early. During the Northern and Southern Dynasties, sulfur was dipped on a small wooden stick, and with the help of fire or fire knife and flint, yin fire could be easily transformed into yang fire. This can be considered the most primitive match.
Tao Zongyi's "Zhuo Geng Lu" records: "The Hangzhou people cut pine wood into small pieces, which are as thin as paper, and the top of the wood piece is coated with sulfur. It is called Fa Zhu, also called Que'er. The cover is used to generate fire and "Dai Zhuye". Around 950, Tao Gu mentioned in his book "Qing Yi Lu" that if there was something urgent at night, it would take a lot of time to make lamps. A wise man impregnated pine wood strips with sulfur and stored them for later use. When it comes into contact with fire, it will burn. You can get a small flame like an ear of corn. This magical thing was called "Light Slave" at that time. Later, when it became a commercial product, it was renamed "Fire Cun Tiao" [1].
The earliest matches in Europe were also made of sulfur. Many researchers believe that this invention was probably brought back directly from China by European tourists [source request]. In 1816, F. Drewson of Paris, France, made yellow phosphorus matches. In 1828, S. Jones of London, England, made promethine matches, followed by Parisian G. E. Mekel and Austrian J. Seeger. Er and others invented phosphorus-free matches. In order to increase the stability and flammability of matches, Frenchman C. Soria used white phosphorus and yellow phosphorus as formulas and innovated the design of match formulas in 1831. In 1845, chemist A. Schlueter invented the safety match, using red phosphorus as the match head. At the end of the 19th century, it was discovered that factory workers who used white phosphorus to make matches were susceptible to a phosphorus-toxic jaw disease. In 1898, after the French Government Match Monopoly filed a patent for the use of phosphorus trisulfide in match making, white phosphorus matches were regarded as is an illegal product.
In 1830, Solia of France and Camelot of Germany innovated matches, using a mixture of yellow phosphorus, sulfur and potassium chlorate to make modern matches. At the beginning of the 20th century, modern matches were introduced to China and were called match matches, fanhuo, etc. For example, Taiwanese still calls it "fanzihuo" today.
In modern times, due to the development of modern tools, many people use lighters and the use of matches has been eliminated. Today, it is easier to buy lighters than matches in supermarkets