Abstract
A CAREFUL metallurgist,2 writing in the eighteenth century, claimed that “every matter which is combustible either wholly or in part, is called fuel, the pabulum of fire.” The word is, however, usually restricted to substances which may be burnt by means of atmospheric air with sufficient rapidity to evolve heat capable of being applied to economic purposes. The latter definition covers certain metals, though it was doubtless framed to include only carbon and associations of carbon and hydrogen, such as coal. The omission from the definition of the reference to atmospheric air would enable the list of metals which might be used as fuel to be widely extended.
Article PDF
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Metals as Fuel 1 . Nature 64, 360–364 (1901). https://doi.org/10.1038/064360a0
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/064360a0