Spontaneous Human Combustion (SHC) refers to when a person bursts into flame for no apparent reason and burns down into charcoal offal reminiscent of the stuff on the bottom of a bag of overcooked popcorn. As you may have already guessed, this is awesome.
Interestingly, the confusion isn't really about how this happens--scientists have a provable method in something called the Wick Effect, which has been successfully demonstrated on pigs. It shows that if someone a bit lardy catches on fire, their skin and clothing act like the wick of a candle, collecting fat as it melts and allowing it to burn at a constant high temperature for an extended period in a localized area.
The real question is what the hell is setting these people on fire?
Interestingly, the confusion isn't really about how this happens--scientists have a provable method in something called the Wick Effect, which has been successfully demonstrated on pigs. It shows that if someone a bit lardy catches on fire, their skin and clothing act like the wick of a candle, collecting fat as it melts and allowing it to burn at a constant high temperature for an extended period in a localized area.
The real question is what the hell is setting these people on fire?
