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Spontaneous Combustion in Hay

 

HELLO, I'm DOING A SCIENCE FAIR PROJECT ON SPONTANEOUS COMBUSTION IN HAY. I JUST NEED TO DO THE REPORT BUT I ONLY HAVE ONE PAGE. I REALLY NEED HELP!

JOLEEN SANDAVOL
- MANNASSAS, VIRGINIA, U.S.A.

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Hello Joleen,

I'm not too sure how your question ended up in Finishing.com. Maybe you can change your project to combusting people, there should be reams of data on that subject. Only thing I can think of is to investigate silo explosions, you might find more information there.

Jake Koch
G. J. Nikolas &Co.,Inc.

Bellwood, Illinois

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Hi Joleen,

Firstly, please go to the archives and hit # 6305, spontaneous combustion of buffing lint.

Whether it's hay, buffing lint, rags ... in fact any cellulose type products in a fine shredded form like lint, etc., will generate heat if kept somewhat moist and eventually could catch fire. If hay stacks were made with wet hay, I'd expect them to catch fire, too, wouldn't you? I guess that's why they use DRY hay!

Why don't you pop into the local fire hall and ask one of the men in blue about spontaneous combustion. That might help you to fill out your page. OK?

Freeman Newton [deceased]
(It is our sad duty to advise that Freeman passed away
April 21, 2012. R.I.P. old friend).