A spark, a flint: How fire leapt to life: reading answers and analysis
Early people could only keep fire alive, until friction, burning glasses and flint-and-steel sparks let them make it. Phosphorus led to dangerous early matches, then Walker's 'Congreves' in 1827, copied as 'Lucifers', and deadly white-phosphorus strike-anywhere matches. Red phosphorus made safety matches possible, and Americans added book matches (and match-book advertising) and waterproof matches.
Questions 1-15 · 15 marks · 2 question blocks
Where the answers sit
The summary (1-8) covers the opening paragraphs up to the steel-and-flint method. The match matching (9-15) covers the later paragraphs, from the Ethereal Match to book matches.
Questions 1-8
Decide the word class of each gap first: after 'tried to' comes a verb (keep burning logs going), then an adjective for not yet knowing they could make fire, and a noun for how the first flames arose. Friction came first, then percussion. The Eskimos are the group named with the Chinese, and 'despite' links the 1850s to the discovery of phosphorus.
| Question | Answer | Also accepted |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | E | — |
| 2 | M | — |
| 3 | K | — |
| 4 | L | — |
| 5 | C | — |
| 6 | J | — |
| 7 | Q | — |
| 8 | D | — |
Questions 9-15
Congreves answer twice: the first to look like modern matches, and based on a rocket-maker's (military) formula. Lucifers simply copied Walker's match. The strike-anywhere match's white phosphorus caused necrosis, and Lundstrom used non-toxic red phosphorus. The Ethereal Match relied on a sealed glass tube, and book matches carried the first match advertising.
| Question | Answer | Also accepted |
|---|---|---|
| 9 | F | — |
| 10 | D | — |
| 11 | E | — |
| 12 | C | — |
| 13 | G | — |
| 14 | A | — |
| 15 | C | — |
The questions most people get wrong
D (despite). Flint and steel stayed the main method until the mid-19th century even though phosphorus had been found in 1669.
C (Congreves). Walker borrowed the formula from Congreve, a military rocket-maker. Congreves is also the answer to question 12.
M (unaware). Early peoples couldn't make flame themselves, so they kept logs or charcoal burning without knowing they could create fire.
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