The book will not ignite at 451 degrees fahrenheit unless you find a flame that burns at exactly that temperature and set it to the paper. The heat alone will not cause it to ignite, you need direct flame.

Or just leave it in the oven for a REALLY long time.

And philnic, you don't REALLY cook your chicken at 451, do you?

If you want to get really picky about it... the temperature at which paper catches fire depends on.. the thickness of the paper.

No, but Faler does (that's how this thread began!)

Actually, in the UK our ovens are marked in Celsius, not Fahrenheit, so I haven't a clue what Fahrenheit temperature to cook a chicken at!

- Phil

well, that high up, I'd have to sit and figure it out....I just know the lower temps from about 100C down because those are the temps we would use at work (we use a lot of metric at work!)

In Gregory Benford's excellent story THE VOICE he makes a reference to F-451 as CENTIGRADE 233.

My overn goes up to 250 celsius, so I guess I COULD cook my chicken at F451...but I usually set it a bit lower than that.

- Phil

Nard, thankyou for a scientific answer! That web page reminded me that I once owned a book called "Boiling Water in a Paper Cup" (the water stops the cup from burning!)

- Phil

I just heard from a coworker that when the Fahrenheit scale was invented, Mr. Fahrenheit wanted to make it so that 100 degrees Fahrenheit would be the temperature of the human body. Unfortunately his wife (upon whom he based his calculation) had a fever at the time, and that threw the whole thing off. So now the standard body temperature is F98.6. I guess he should have taken a bigger sample of people, huh? Some scientist.
Of course, this is just what I heard.

Well.
Trivia time...
How many of us have wondered, if 32 degrees F is freezing, what the heck is 0 degrees F based on?
Turns out it's the temperature at which salt water (1 part each water and salt) freezes!

http://www.chem.oswego.edu/chem209/Misc/fahrenheit.htm

Except for the fact that Gdask is in Poland, which kind of makes Fahrenheit Polish, the text is correct.

Cheers, Translator

Was this guy on crack!? Why did he pick those numbers and divisions?

"Back off, man. I'm a scientist."
-Peter Venkman (Bill Murray), Ghostbusters

"The book will not ignite at 451 degrees fahrenheit unless you find a flame that burns at exactly that temperature and set it to the paper. The heat alone will not cause it to ignite, you need direct flame."

This is probably true. I remember back in the days when I used to smoke cigarettes, trying to light one on an electric stovetop. Those coils get just as hot as an open flame gas stove (hot enough to boil a pot of water) but it was impossible to light a cigarette from it. Also, I've heard that fire alone does not detonate a stick of dynamite. It is actually the force from the chain reaction of a lit fuse that does the honors, not the flame itself. Supposedly miners used to heat up the dynamite in a campfire skillet on cold mornings.

quote:

Originally posted by groon:
This is probably true. I remember back in the days when I used to smoke cigarettes, trying to light one on an electric stovetop. Those coils get just as hot as an open flame gas stove (hot enough to boil a pot of water) but it was impossible to light a cigarette from it.

Really??? I never had a problem lighting a cigarette using the electric stove. Then again, I have pyromaniac tendencies....

I would think that, given enough time, that book in the oven would ignite and burn. Might take some time, though.