Lighter: Lighter was originally invented as a small firearm. Modern lighters can be divided into liquid lighters and gas lighters according to the fuel used. According to the ignition mode, it can be divided into flint lighter and electronic lighter. The original lighters came from flint rifles. When a trigger with a strong spring is pulled, it touches flint to generate sparks and ignite the leaves. 1823, German chemist Bebelina found in the laboratory that hydrogen would catch fire when it met platinum cotton. This discovery inspired him to try a lighter. D 'Urbana used a small glass cylinder to hold a proper amount of dilute sulfuric acid, and the cylinder was filled with an inner tube, which was filled with zinc flakes. The glass cylinder is equipped with a top cover with a nozzle, platinum wool and a switch, and the zinc sheet in the inner tube contacts with sulfuric acid to generate hydrogen. The pressure generated by a certain amount of hydrogen will discharge the sulfuric acid in the inner tube into the glass tube. Turn on the switch, the hydrogen in the inner tube will rush to the platinum cotton and catch fire. The pressure in the inner tube and the glass tube is re-balanced, and sulfuric acid enters the inner tube again and reacts with zinc sheet to generate hydrogen. Yu was the first lighter in the world. However, it has some disadvantages, such as large volume, inconvenient carrying, fragile glass shell and the danger of sulfuric acid overflow, and has not been popularized. (Figure) (Schematic diagram of modern electronic ignition gas lighter) 1920, wick lighters appeared in France. The wick is impregnated with saltpeter powder, which is easily ignited by sparks. Later, it was changed to a benzene lighter with a wick immersed in benzene. This kind of lighter sometimes leaks oil and needs to be replaced frequently. After World War II, gas fuel lighters appeared and gradually replaced benzene core lighters. Butane gas extracted from natural gas is compressed into lighter. When in use, butane gas is sprayed from the nozzle at the top of the lighter and ignited by the lighter. The size of the flame can be controlled by adjusting the amount of injected gas. When butane gas is exhausted, it can be charged from the valve at the bottom of the lighter. The ignition system of lighters has also been improved for a long time, becoming more and more perfect. The old ignition system consists of flint and flint wheel, and flint is an alloy of iron and cerium. 1906, Austrian chemists discovered that this alloy material has the property of producing sparks, and turned the fire factory into a lighter, and the flint produced sparks by grinding the iron wheel file on the cover. During World War II, ammunition experts used piezoelectric effect to detonate bombs. The front end of the bomb is equipped with crystals similar to potassium sodium tartrate and some ceramics. When subjected to a strong impact, it will generate a high-voltage charge in an instant and detonate the explosive. After the war, Japan successfully applied the piezoelectric effect to lighters, generating a high voltage of 6000-8000 volts in 30000-40000 seconds, so that the generated sparks ignited butane, saving dry batteries or flint. Another lighter uses a dry battery as the ignition power. A 9- 12 volt layere manganese battery is provided. When the switch is turned on, the miniature transformer in the box raises the voltage to 9000 volts, generating sparks and igniting the fuel. There is also a lighter with mercury battery and integrated circuit, which will produce high-voltage sparks. This lighter only needs to replace the battery and replenish fuel regularly. Matches are the most widely used and cheapest ignition tools in various countries, which have made immortal contributions to human ignition. According to historical records, the first match in the world was a sulfuric acid match invented by French chemist Chansel. That match is thick and long. One end of the stick is coated with potassium chlorate, sucrose and gum. When in use, it can burn when it meets concentrated sulfuric acid. This method is much more convenient than tapping with a flint knife. At that time, people called it "fire thief". However, this kind of match is too expensive, and concentrated sulfuric acid is very corrosive, which often causes some accidents. In fact, the matches' analogues were trial-produced in China as early as 1 1 century. In the early years of the Northern Song Dynasty, people used Chinese fir sticks stained with sulfur to make a fire, which was called "burning candles". But like Vulcan, it is not an ideal kindling tool for human beings. The real appearance of matches is the use of phosphorus-headed matches. 1669, the German alchemist Tabrant smelted various metals in Hamburg, trying to extract gold from them. One day, in the experiment of "turning stone into gold", he heated white sand and urine in a retort. When the fire was very strong, suddenly a white smoke came out of the bottle and condensed into a white wax-like thing. This kind of lump will glow in the dark, leave bright marks when painted on the wall, and spontaneously ignite when exposed to air. Blunt named this "monster" phosphorus, which means luminous body. He sold the secret of phosphorus to a rich businessman at a high price. 1677, a wealthy businessman came to England with phosphorus and met the famous scientist Boyle. After research, Boyle mastered the technology of making phosphorus and began the experiment of making matches. 1680 finally made the original match, that is, one end of the thin stick was coated with sulfur and the thick paper was coated with phosphorus. When the thin stick rubs against the paper, it will ignite the thin stick. But at that time, the cost of phosphorus production was too high to be popularized. 1775, Swedish chemist Scheler heated sulfuric acid with calcined bones and successfully extracted phosphorus. The process is divided into several steps: ca3 (po4) 2+2h2so4 = = ca (h2po4) 2+2caso4ca (h2po4) 2 = = ca (po3) 2+2h2o 3ca (po3) 2+10c = = ca3 (po4) 2+ When in use, as long as the glass tube is opened, the white phosphorus will make the "candle" burn. Forty years later, Paris established the world's first industrial white phosphorus factory. 1827, John E. Walker, a British chemist, accidentally made the world's earliest friction match while trying to produce hair powder for shotguns. This kind of white phosphorus match is called "poison match", which is unsafe to use and was soon banned by various countries. Later, two French men, Sefen and Kahen, improved the formula and used phosphorus trisulfide instead of white phosphorus as the igniter, which was later called "non-toxic matches". However, this kind of match will catch fire when rubbed on a rough solid surface, even if it is put in a pocket, it will spontaneously ignite, which is still not safe enough. 1845, Schroeder of Germany heated white phosphorus in the air to 250℃ to make red phosphorus. From then on, people began to make matches with red phosphorus, which was originally produced in Sweden, so it was also called Swedish matches. The igniting agent is to paste red phosphorus and fine sand on the edge of the matchbox, and the paste of the match is mixed with combustible Sb2S3, oxidant KClO3 and catalyst MnO2 and pasted on the wooden stick soaked in paraffin. When in use, the match head rubs against the red phosphorus at the edge of the box, and the red phosphorus locally turns into white phosphorus, causing combustion. This kind of match is not only non-toxic, but also can catch fire by rubbing on a special matchbox coated with red phosphorus. This is the "safety match" that is still in use today. 1879, Chinese-born Wei Shengxuan founded the first match factory in Guangzhou, but few people could afford it at that time because of the small quantity and high price. 1880, the Swedes opened a Swedish-Swiss company in Shanghai, producing and selling matches. The whole set of machinery and equipment is Swedish, and even the trademarks on the match basin are printed abroad. They took advantage of the low price of their products, made a lot of profits in the China market, and stifled the upcoming match industry in China.