Why is water not flamable when the ingredients are oxygen and hydrogen, two flamable substances?
No. Technically, there is only one “flammable” substance, and that is hydrogen. Oxygen is not flammable, in that oxygen will not burn. Oxygen SUPPORTS combustion. Things that burn are flammable in oxygen. Hydrogen is flammable in oxygen. The combustion of hydrogen is merely the rapid chemical reaction between H2 and O2. Water is the lower energy product of the chemical reaction where H2 combines with O2. There is no tendency for H2O to react with O2 to go to an even lower energy product. All chemical reactions occur because the products will be at a lower total energy than were the reactants. It’s like bowling balls on the side of a hill will always roll down to the lowest possible point, the lowest possible potential energy. Chemical reactions always move toward the lowest possible potential energy. Water is at the bottom of the hill, so to speak.
