96 
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA-EXPERIMENT STATION 
What other method have you read that the ancients used in 
making fire? (Flint and steel.) Flint is a very hard stone 
and when it is struck against iron or steel it removed little 
pieces and the friction is so great that they become almost 
white hot. What did they strike these flints over? (Small 
pieces of wood, fiber, or linen.) , What did they call the 
material that caught on fire? (Tinder.) 
Who has ever heard of the flint-lock guns ? Can you explain 
how they worked? (The hammer of the gun carried a piece 
of flint and as it fell it touched a piece of steel sending a 
shower of sparks down into the powder.) 
Experiment II. The flint and steel Gaslighter. 
Material. A friction gaslighter ($.15 at any 5c, 10c and 15c 
Store.) Alcohol, piece of cloth. 
a. Examine the lighter, noticing the steel file and the 
material which rubs against it. This is not flint, but the action 
of the lighter is very much like the old flint and steel. 
b. Make sparks with the lighter. To do so, quickly rub 
the parts together. Feel of the sparks. Are they hot ? Make 
% 
the sparks in illuminating gas. Does the gas light ? If there is 
no gas try lighting a piece of cloth which it very wet with 
alcohol. Do gas and alcohol have to be very warm in order to 
burn ? 
Matches. What is the modern way of obtaining fire ? How 
do you light a match? What causes the match to light? So 
the modern way is much like the ancient way after all. The 
only difference is that the material in the head of the match 
begins to burn at a very low temperature, just as gas and alcohol 
were set on fire by sparks which were not noticeably hot. As 
soon as a match begins to burn its temperature rises to more 
than 1000° F. 
Why should we be careful where we put our matches and 
what we keep them in? (Because they are so easily set on 
fire, children and mice both can do harm with them.) It is 
best to keep your matches in a dry tin box out of the reach 
of small children. 
