The Science of Fire

For a combustion reaction to occur a few things are needed: a combustible substance must contain carbon and hydrogen, and must be burned in the presence of oxygen.

A combustion reaction produces carbon dioxide and water.

To illustrate this reaction, here's the general formula for the complete combustion of an alkene (a hydrocarbon with at least one double bond):

For those of you who don't know:
C=carbon, O=oxygen, H=hydrogen, CO2=carbon dioxide, H2O=water
Now, you all probably knew that (I mean, if you actually came here...), but I felt that I had to clarify things.