Discussion on:

Spontaneous combustion is real, and pigs might help us figure out why it happens

The question of spontaneity is "What started the fire?" Whether a furnace next to "a man" (unreferenced) was absolutely "impossible" to have started combustion is irrelevant. The furnace must have been demonstrably non-functional at the time of the accident for the cited conclusion. Why would one be messing with a furnace that's not working...to start it perhaps? Wouldn't he then naturally be carrying an ignition source, lighter or match?

What could have started him on fire? Is it more plausible he passed out trying to start the fire with a match or lighter, or that his acetone levels did something never detected once in hundreds of accidents and zillions of deliberate attempts?

Neither Ford's video, nor his quote have anything to say about ignition, purportedly the topic of the article.

Yes, overweight people who are simultaneously impaired and ignited can burn, but there is not a cornflake of evidence in this article of ignition from undiscovered internal chemical reactions.

You wrote: "The question of spontaneity is "What started the fire?" Whether a furnace next to "a man" (unreferenced) was absolutely "impossible" to have started combustion is irrelevant. The furnace must have been demonstrably non-functional at the time of the accident for the cited conclusion. Why would one be messing with a furnace that's not working...to start it perhaps?"

You've made too many assumptions:

Who said he was working on the furnace? It was only stated that he was near it, and "near" is a relative term anyway; if I lived a block off the ocean, then it would be accurate to say that "I live near the ocean". He may have been ten feet away from the furnace, going through some boxes. Who knows?

Why does the conclusion that the furnace wasn't the cause indicate that it was "demonstrably non-functional"? Perhaps it was July and the gas/electricity to the unit were shut off. Or- as stated above- maybe he just wasn't close enough to it for it to be the culprit.

You are totally ignoring the obvious and frequent causes of many accidental ignitions - static electricity - like simply walking across a carpet or even static producing clothing.

Come back when there's some actual proof.

Merely investigating a phenomena doesn't require that one believe it exists, but like UFO's, so long as there are cases for which the exact circumstance and cause hasn't been determined, there exists the possibility of previously unknown causes. The vast majority of these cases have either found a probable cause or lack sufficient data to determine a cause (or causes--never assume that there is only one causative factor in any even t!)

There are loads of documented events with unknown causes, in most cases there are quite strong indications that there may be a particular cause---but not proof. In most, proof is unlikely to ever be found given the lack of data on the events.

Remember that 'rogue' waves were 'tale tales' for millennial until we started spotting them from orbit.

The universe is far stranger than we can imagine.

As always, Occam's Razor applies.

Spontaneous combustion can occur as follows: The body can act as an capacitor and an electrical charge can be stored in the body. The more accidic the body fluids become the better electrical conductor the body fluids become, thus with a fairly dry skin the higher the electrical resistance and thus ad to the higher electrical charge stored in the body. Ad to this, poor digestion in your stomach enhances gas forming (Bloating). This high electrical charge can ignite the gasses wich can set you allight.

As a matter of interest if you get heartburn the first thing that are described is an antacid to dilute your stomach acids. In doing this your food rots in your stomach and cannot be digested thus as already stated above bloating occurs. My contravercial statement: strengthen your stomach acids by drinking say a teaspoon of vinigar ( Not apple cider vinigar) find your happy medium that will suffice for you. Doing this your food starts to digest and your heartburn subsides. This will not be easily accepted medically but believe me it is effective.

wizodgg - you have quite an imagination. You obviously have no knowledge of electrical charges. The body has small charges of electricity that get passed from cell to cell in the neural pathways but the body does not behave like a capacitor. These cases of SHC have been documented many times but no one has come up with an adequate explanation of just how/why they occur. The work being done under lab conditions may come to a conclusion. It would be really nice to get a reason that makes sense.

If you know all about electrical charges, how do you explain static electricity in the body and what effect does it have on your health. Some causes of static electricity in the body like friction, the weather and the main culprit your mind. This becomes a full study on its own. Once you grasp this you will understand why acupuncture works and miracle cures can result.

many an old wive's cure is an old wive's tale. however, there are peasant "cures" that work admirably but too many dox won't accept this idea if it's not in the book.

New Info like this, could re-open murder- arson investigations.

Nessie or bigfoot?

Voodoo science ! Please come up with real cases of people going up in smoke ! Well under this circumstance and that circumstance it can happen ! I am not likely to drink ethanol or acetane. Sometimes I drink alcohol though ! I guess I will stay away from any candles ! Pig guts marinated in ethanol for a week. Wow this is funny !

You say you are not likely to drink ethanol, but you do drink alcohol, which contains... ethanol!

I'm not saying that Ford's explanation is right or wrong, but you haven't helped the debate by laughing it down with such an obviously false claim and labelling it as voodoo.

Metabolic flammables like acetone are improbable, because : 1) The levels/volumes necessary for ignition and continued combustion would have reached lethal levels long before a flammability threshold was likely reached around their bodies. You would also suspect that diabetics would be more prone to combustion if that were the case and I have never seen a correlation. 2) No matter how you slice human spontaneous combustion theory - the mass balance equation for total combustion of tissues has to be met - meaning an adequate fuel source for the number of BTU's necessary for complete combustion and no one has been able to provide such an internal fuel source with that kind of BTU capability. Thus, the credibility gap.

I DO think that pigs might be used to settle the question of how often Human Spontaneous Combustion occurs. Flying pigs.

Not sure if I should troll this article or comment on how dumb it is.

I think SC may be possible. The question is how can the body get such high levels of acetone to SC? What is the minimum level needed? As someone stated earlier, it would probably be a toxic level.

The fact that in the whole of recorded human history there is not one confirmed case of spontaneous human combustion must seriously bring into question the alleged phenomenon. Besides, the mere fact that a thing is perhaps possible under truly extraordinary conditions does not mean that it ever occurred, or will ever occur. I also suspect that if an individual could create within their body enough acetone to cause/lead to, spontaneous human combustion, they would be poisoned long before sufficient level could be produced. I seriously doubt that a dead body could continue making acetone. As well, I find the title of this article utterly misleading; Spontaneous combustion might be real. "Might be real." Its a little late in the day for this kind of nonsense. There are far too many real and reasonable issues worthy of discussion and exploration. Im afraid this is clearly not one.

I will believe in spontaneous combustion when pigs fly!

I do not believe acetone, nor any other volatile organic compound, can build up in a human body while alive to allow for ignition, let alone spontaneous combustion. Fat itself, if properly insulated,can oxidize slowly and produce heat to allow for spontaneous ignition. This is why, in days past, painters never piled rags wet with linseed oil. A pile of linseed oil moistened rags will oxidize, exotherm, and catch fire.
The only case of "spontaneous human combustion" I have ever been near was a man who was struck by lightning out of a clear blue sky due to the heat.
Post mortem spontaneous combustion is plausible. In vivo spontaneous combustion does not sound physiologically possible.

Diabetics with high blood sugars form ketones (acetone) in the body to remove the unwanted sugar by breathing. This is why high blood sugar causes bad breath in them that Doctors realize is likely the problem.

I will blow myself up tomorrow on the capitol steps and pray OgoofBall head will there