APPLYING THE SCIENCE 10.1 Spontaneous Combustion Human Candles

Applying the Science 10.1 Spontaneous Combustion Human Candles 

One of the more persistent urban myths of forensic science is the belief that the human body can somehow erupt into flame and rapidly burn down to ashes with no discernible ignition source and nearly no peripheral burning. The material discussed in Chapter 9 concerning heat and mass transfer, fuel-air ratios, flammability limits, and the conditions that must be met for successful ignition are sufficient to debunk any ideas of spontaneous human combustion, but the myth persists. 

To combat misperceptions, a series of experiments was conducted and the results recently reported in the Journal of 

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