Guy Fawkes and the Foundations of Fire

“Remember Remember the 5th of November,

gunpowder treason plot,

I see no reason why gunpowder treason,

Should ever be forgot”

Have you seen the movie V for Vendetta? Or maybe the masks of the hacking collective known as anonymous? Do you know the history?

Well, the 5th of November in the UK is known as Bonfire Night or Guy Fawkes night. Yes, the man on the mask is Guy Fawkes. To the authorities a dangerous terrorist, to the masses a libertarian, but how did he rise to notoriety and why is he remembered 400 years later?

Guy was a member of a group of Catholics, at a time when Catholicism was banned in the UK. The group’s plan was to kill the King of England by placing explosives under the houses of parliament (where Big Ben is today). However, the plot was leaked and Guy Fawkes was caught in the cellar with barrels of explosives and was hung, drawn and quartered and finally burnt on a huge bonfire as a treasonous traitor to the king.

To this day on the 5th of November people all over England set off fireworks, light bonfires and burn effigies of Guy Fawkes in the celebration that the King lived and Guy Fawkes was caught.

This led to wondering: What are the principles of fire?

The fundamental building blocks of fire are illustrated as a triangle fire triangle composed of fuel, heat and oxygen. Eliminating any one of these elements and combustion isn’t possible.

But the good news is that the classic pyramid shape of a campfire that you were taught in scouts isn’t a myth! It really is the best shape for a fire but why?

It turns out that a Base (D) to Side ratio (H) of 1:1 for the pyramid is optimal for allowing new air and thus oxygen to be pulled into the fire keeping the fire triangle going.

So remember the next time you are having a BBQ or a singalong around a roaring fire to build the campfire as wide as it is high.

This article was based on an article:

https://interestingengineering.com/engineering-of-fire-how-to-build-the-best-fire-scientifically

Please visit for a more detailed look at the mathematics of fire.

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