Re: Gases (flamable vs. nonflamable)

Dear sir/madam,

In answer to your question on the flammability of gasses, I would like to state 
that the flammability of gasses is dependent on the ease of oxidation of the 
gas. Combustion processes are an exothermic reaction between a compound and 
oxygen leading to the oxidation of the compound. For instance, ethanol (C2H6O) 
oxidizes into carbon dioxide and water with a net reaction of

C2H6O + O2 --> 2 CO2 + 3 H2O

The net energy change in an oxidation process can be exothermic or endothermic. 
 In case of an exothermic reaction, this process can occur spontaneous with a 
small delay due to the activation energy (for instance, a small flame to ignite 
a butane gas burner). The larger the net gain in energy, the larger the ease of 
combustion.

The noble gasses, for instance helium and argon are very difficult to combust, 
because the compounds are in their thermodynamic most stable state.  Oxidation 
of these elements is an endothermic proces.

Hopefully this answers your question.

Yours sincerely,
J. van der Rijt, MSc