# Is Carbon Monoxide flamable? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 19, 2012, 11:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-carbon-monoxide-flamable/619262 "2012-04-19T11:30:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Mosier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ea924/32.png) [@Mosier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mosier)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2012, 9:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-carbon-monoxide-flamable/619262/21 "2012-04-20T09:21:30Z")
> [@Una\_Persson](#): > > The next person who confuses CO and CO2 in this thread will be eaten by a _Stegosaurus stenops._ And yes, contrary to what the Bible tells us, they really are carnivores. And they’re hungry. It wasn’t my fault! Someone else said it first. ---
**Author:** ![koontzman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/a5b964/32.png) [@koontzman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/koontzman)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2013, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-carbon-monoxide-flamable/619262/22 "2013-07-22T23:54:33Z")
> [@Malacandra](#): > > Water gas gives you methane and carbon monoxide, producer gas just CO and nitrogen (assuming you’re blasting air), so producer gas is poor fuel but the reaction is exothermic, whereas the water gas reaction is seriously endothermic (but makes better fuel). So by periodically blasting air to make producer gas, you can heat the coke enough for another water-gas run, and so on. So, if I were building a wood gasification unit, it would be a good idea to change from air inlets, to alternating gas/water inlets…? ---
**Author:** ![stui\_magpie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stui_magpie/32/11010_2.png) [@stui\_magpie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stui_magpie)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2013, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-carbon-monoxide-flamable/619262/23 "2013-07-23T00:45:54Z")
> [@Una\_Persson](#): > > The next person who confuses CO and CO2 in this thread will be eaten by a _Stegosaurus stenops._ And yes, contrary to what the Bible tells us, they really are carnivores. And they’re hungry. Do they eat Zombies? ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2013, 11:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-carbon-monoxide-flamable/619262/24 "2013-07-23T11:47:18Z")
> [@Una\_Persson](#): > > The next person who confuses CO and CO2 in this thread will be eaten by a _Stegosaurus stenops._ And yes, contrary to what the Bible tells us, they really are carnivores. And they’re hungry. No the ones that are still with us are the Steganosauruses. When I was growing up our gas supply was water gas. Around 1947 or so, the Philadelphia Gas Co. changed to natural gas. They had to come to each house in the city and change the valves because natural gas has more energy. That must have been a nightmare, since they obviously couldn’t do it everywhere on the same day. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2013, 12:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-carbon-monoxide-flamable/619262/25 "2013-07-23T12:13:09Z")
I’m tempted to conflate CO and CO2, just because I want to see a real live steggie. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2013, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-carbon-monoxide-flamable/619262/26 "2013-07-23T13:10:22Z")
It’s been proposed that carbon monoxide could serve as a (crappy) rocket fuel for settlers on Mars because it could be made from the ambient carbon dioxide in Mar’s atmosphere. ---
**Author:** ![Isilder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/cc9497/32.png) [@Isilder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isilder)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2013, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-carbon-monoxide-flamable/619262/27 "2013-07-23T14:29:15Z")
> [@Hari\_Seldon](#): > > what were the consequences of using natural gas with a stove tuned for water gas? Could result in incomplete burning, and the production of CO, Carbon Monoxide. I guess that to switch an entire city over from one gas to another, you’d hope that for each zone you can switch over in a day, the zone had two (at least) upstream pipes, with stop cocks to control them. So that you’d bring natural gas to one upstream (by laying new mains pipeline ?) and then switching over. They’d have to lay a new main distributor pipeline to run to the new plant/supply, and because the new source would be larger and expected to supply for gas further.. so there’s be significant mains work to be done first, and that would have the effect of creating a new mains network in parallel to the water gas mains. And because having redundant supply paths was good engineering practice anyway , there’s always two upstreams for a zone ?, you can just roll out the new gas east to west..or something.. The natural gas turn on may have requires some efffort to create the chunks/blocks/zones with multiple upstreams. ---
**Author:** ![Si\_Amigo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/si_amigo/32/2877_2.png) [@Si\_Amigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Si_Amigo)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2013, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-carbon-monoxide-flamable/619262/28 "2013-07-23T14:36:20Z")
> [@Una\_Persson](#): > > The next person who confuses CO and CO2 in this thread will be eaten by a _Stegosaurus stenops._ And yes, contrary to what the Bible tells us, they really are carnivores. And they’re hungry. Please tempt them! They were my favorite dinosaur when growing up. I even let them kill my T-Rex on a regular basis, so they are bad assed in my book. Go ahead, confuse CO with CO2 you pussies! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Malacandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2013, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-carbon-monoxide-flamable/619262/29 "2013-07-23T17:52:40Z")
> [@koontzman](#): > > So, if I were building a wood gasification unit, it would be a good idea to change from air inlets, to alternating gas/water inlets…? You’d probably want to preheat the water and inject steam, but in principle it should work, since a water-gas/producer-gas plant would have been gasifying coal, and once you’ve distilled off the volatile fractions from wood (as you would with coal) the remaining charcoal should do just as well as coke. (You’re not losing on the deal by boiling the water first, since cold water would be bringing the heat right down anyway…) ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2013, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-carbon-monoxide-flamable/619262/30 "2013-07-23T18:13:08Z")
Wait, didn’t Brontosauruses live with a lot less Carbon Monoxide in the atmosphere than there is today? ---
**Author:** ![Quercus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/7ab992/32.png) [@Quercus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quercus)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2013, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-carbon-monoxide-flamable/619262/31 "2013-07-23T20:56:59Z")
> [@Ludovic](#): > > Wait, didn’t Brontosauruses live with a lot less Carbon Monoxide in the atmosphere than there is today? I thought it was more CO; that’s why the plants grew so big, which allowed giant dinosaurs. It’s also why it was so hot back then: all the Carbon Monoxide created a greenhouse effect. (I just want to hear Una roar “Release the Stegasaur!” in a Clash of Titans voice ) ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2013, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-carbon-monoxide-flamable/619262/32 "2013-07-23T22:01:11Z")
No, it’s inflammable. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Lemur866](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lemur866/32/434_2.png) [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2013, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-carbon-monoxide-flamable/619262/33 "2013-07-23T23:10:20Z")
It’s a common misconception. It’s only the Stegosaur’s front head that was herbivorous, the rear head was carnivorous. ---
**Author:** ![bob\_2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bob_2/32/3341_2.png) [@bob\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bob_2)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2013, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-carbon-monoxide-flamable/619262/34 "2013-07-23T23:18:25Z")
The best fire extinguisher is Halon (Dibromotetrafluoroethane) (C2Br2F4) ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2013, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-carbon-monoxide-flamable/619262/35 "2013-07-24T00:03:16Z")
> [@Lemur866](#): > > It’s a common misconception. It’s only the Stegosaur’s front head that was herbivorous, the rear head was carnivorous. But then where does the Thagomizer go? ---
**Author:** ![j\_sum1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/8baadc/32.png) [@j\_sum1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/j_sum1)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2013, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-carbon-monoxide-flamable/619262/36 "2013-07-24T00:30:26Z")
> [@Lumpy](#): > > No, it’s inflammable. 😛 Nope. That’s carbon dioxide. ---
**Author:** ![gazpacho](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/6f9a4e/32.png) [@gazpacho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gazpacho)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2013, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-carbon-monoxide-flamable/619262/37 "2013-07-24T00:33:05Z")
> [@Lumpy](#): > > No, it’s inflammable. 😛 I wonder how many people that word has killed. ---
**Author:** ![ZenBeam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/3ab097/32.png) [@ZenBeam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZenBeam)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2013, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-carbon-monoxide-flamable/619262/38 "2013-07-24T01:03:36Z")
> [@Isilder](#): > > Could result in incomplete burning, and the production of CO, Carbon Monoxide. Could you use half natural gas, half CO2 during the transition, and get an acceptable burn using either? (That’s for you, **Si Amigo**. :)) ---
**Author:** ![Ranger\_Jeff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranger_jeff/32/2065_2.png) [@Ranger\_Jeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranger_Jeff)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2013, 7:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-carbon-monoxide-flamable/619262/39 "2013-07-24T07:48:23Z")
Frankly, I don’t think **Una Persson** has the guts to feed **Mosier** to a stegosaurus stenops for confusing CO and CO2. I double dawg dare her to try. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2013, 9:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-carbon-monoxide-flamable/619262/40 "2013-07-24T09:26:15Z")
CO[sub]2[/sub] may be non-flammable, and used in fire extinguishers, but it can actually _feed oxygen to a fire_ under certain circumstances. As Theo Gray demonstrates, putting carbon dioxide on smoldering magnesium can give it enough oxygen to burst into flame – even when that CO[sub]2[/sub] is frozen, in the form of dry ice: > **[Let Burning Metals Lie](https://graysci.com/chapter-five/let-burning-metals-lie/)** As he says, using a carbon dioxide fire extinguisher on a pile of smoldering magnesium shavings will make it burst into flame – magnesium burns better in a carbon dioxide atmospher than in ordinary air. Magnesium will burn in all sorts of things, including water (it’s used in underwater flares) and pure nitrogen. It’s not clear to me that it won’t burn in carbon monoxide. Carbon monoxide, by the way, can be burned, as shown in these pages, making CO by reacting formic acid with sulfuric acid: > [@](#): > > Carbon monoxide is made industrially in the manufacture of synthesis gas from the reaction of alkanes with steam. In the laboratory an easy way to prepare CO is by the dehydration of concentrated methanoic acid using concentrated sulfuric acid1 > > HCOOH(l) CO(g) + H2O(l) > > The CO evolved can then be ignited to show that the gas burns with a pale blue flame. [http://www.rsc.org/Education/EiC/issues/2009March/ExhibitionChemistry.asp](http://www.rsc.org/Education/EiC/issues/2009March/ExhibitionChemistry.asp) Picture of burning CO: [http://www.chemistrydemos.co.uk/webpages/Carbon%20monoxide%20burning.php](http://www.chemistrydemos.co.uk/webpages/Carbon%20monoxide%20burning.php) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-carbon-monoxide-flamable/619262.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-carbon-monoxide-flamable/619262.md?page=3)