> In 2024, Tan attracted criticism for a profane tweet wishing death on seven of the 11 members of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. In a later apology, he said he was referencing a rap track.
I sometimes think private individuals in America are held to much higher standard than public representatives. Somehow, it is like "all things considered" my party did the right thing under the circumstances but that "all things considered" leniency is not shown to private individuals.
Well, we (broadly speaking) did not create the concept of a plasma phase of matter, but fire as we know it is only possible because of free oxygen. Fire, for the most part, is just another name for rapid oxidation.
Even some things that can burn without air (e.g. magnesium) typically only burn because they are so hot that they cause H2O to separate.
Obviously stars exist, so there are other ways of getting to plasma, but oxygen is what makes terrestrial fires possible.
> Even some things that can burn without air (e.g. magnesium) typically only burn because they are so hot that they cause H2O to separate.
I'm not positive about magnesium, but also most of them only burn because we've converted them to materials that don't exist in nature. Eg it'll only be found as oxides (ie already burnt) and then we put some energy or chemicals in to get the form we want.
If it _can_ oxidize as found in nature, there has to be some good reason it didn't already do it over ~billions of years.
