rapid chemical reaction between substances that is usually accompanied by generation of heat and light in the form of flame. In most cases, oxygen comprises one of the reactants. Other physical phenomena that sometimes occur during combustion reactions are explosion and detonation.

A brief treatment of combustion follows. For full treatment, see oxidation-reduction reaction: Combustion and flame (oxidation–reduction reaction).

Combustion, one of the most important classes of chemical reaction, is often considered a climax phenomenon in the oxidation of certain types of substances. Although most flames have regions where reduction reactions are important, combustion is primarily the combining of combustible material with oxygen.

The chemical processes in combustion are most commonly initiated by such factors as heat, light, and sparks. As the combustible materials achieve the ignition temperature specific to the materials and the ambient pressure, the combustion reaction begins. The combustion spreads from the ignition source to the adjacent layer of gas mixture; in turn, each point of the burning layer serves as an ignition source for the next adjacent layer, and so on. Combustion terminates when equilibrium is achieved between the total heat energies of the reactants and the total heat energies of the products.

Combustion may be propagated by complicated branched-chain reactions, as in hydrogen combustion. Other types of reactions, such as the combustion of carbon monoxide, are characterized by a fast interaction step between a hydroxyl radical (OH^- ) and the carbon monoxide molecule (CO). Although the mechanisms of hydrocarbon combustion are not completely known, many of the steps involving hydrogen and oxygen atoms and hydroxyl and organic radicals are similar to those for hydrogen and carbon monoxide combustion.

In addition to the chemical processes in combustion, physical processes that transfer mass and energy also occur. In gaseous combustion, for example, the diffusion of reactants and combustion products depends on their concentrations, pressure and temperature changes, and diffusion coefficients. Convection, which is also responsible for the transport of mass and energy, comprises buoyant and external forces, and turbulent and eddy motions.

Combustion may also emit light energy, mostly in the infrared portion of the spectrum. The light emitted by a flame arises from the presence of particles in electronically excited states and from ions, radicals, and electrons.

An acceleration of a combustion reaction, whether caused by a rise in temperature or by an increase in the lengths of reaction chains, can lead to an explosion. In the former case a thermal explosion will occur when the rate of heat released by the reaction exceeds the rate of heat lost from the area. In the latter case a so-called chain explosion will occur when the probability of chain branching equals that of chain termination. When a combustion reaction accelerates progressively so that the flame front area advances at a supersonic velocity, compression from the shock wave causes an increase in temperature that results in self-ignition of the fuel. This phenomenon, called detonation, will not occur when energy loss from the reaction zone exceeds a certain limit.