What is "spontaneous combustion"

Spontaneous \Spon*ta"ne*ous\ (sp[o^]n*t[=a]"n[-e]*[u^]s), a. [L. spontaneus, fr. sponte of free will, voluntarily.]

1. Proceeding from natural feeling, temperament, or disposition, or from a native internal proneness, readiness, or tendency, without constraint; as, a spontaneous gift or proposition.

2. Proceeding from, or acting by, internal impulse, energy, or natural law, without external force; as, spontaneous motion; spontaneous growth.

3. Produced without being planted, or without human labor; as, a spontaneous growth of wood.

   Spontaneous combustion, combustion produced in a substance by the evolution of heat through the chemical action of its own elements; as, the spontaneous combustion of waste matter saturated with oil.

   Spontaneous generation. (Biol.) See under Generation.

   Syn: Voluntary; uncompelled; willing.

   Usage: Spontaneous, Voluntary. What is voluntary is the result of a volition, or act of choice; it therefore implies some degree of consideration, and may be the result of mere reason without excited feeling. What is spontaneous springs wholly from feeling, or a sudden impulse which admits of no reflection; as, a spontaneous burst of applause. Hence, the term is also applied to things inanimate when they are produced without the determinate purpose or care of man. ``Abstinence which is but voluntary fasting, and . . . exercise which is but voluntary labor.''
   --J. Seed.

   Spontaneous joys, where nature has its play, The soul adopts, and owns their firstborn away.
   --Goldsmith. [1913 Webster] -- Spon*ta"ne*ous*ly, adv. -- Spon*ta"ne*ous*ness, n.

n. combustion without an external source of heat.

n. ignition of a substance (as oily rags) resulting from an internal oxidation process

Spontaneous combustion is the self-ignition of a mass, for example, a pile of oily rags. Allegedly, humans can also ignite and burn without an obvious cause; this phenomenon is known as spontaneous human combustion.

Spontaneous Combustion is also the name of:

• Spontaneous Combustion (album), a 2007 album by Liquid Trio Experiment
• Spontaneous Combustion (film), a 1990 film by Tobe Hooper
• "Spontaneous Combustion" (South Park), an episode of the South Park television series
• Spontaneous Combustion (band), US bluegrass/rock fusion band of the 1990s

"Spontaneous Combustion" is the 33rd episode of Comedy Central's animated series South Park. It originally aired in the United States on April 14, 1999.

Spontaneous combustion or spontaneous ignition is a type of combustion which occurs by self-heating (increase in temperature due to exothermic internal reactions), followed by thermal runaway (self heating which rapidly accelerates to high temperatures) and finally, ignition.

Spontaneous Combustion is a 1990 American science fiction horror film, directed by Tobe Hooper. It was written by Tobe Hooper and Howard Goldberg, based on a story by Hooper, and is a co-production between Henry Bushkin, Sanford Hampton, Jerrold W. Lambert, Jim Rogers and Arthur M. Sarkissian.

It was nominated for best film in the 1991 Fantasporto International Fantasy Film Awards.

Spontaneous Combustion is an album by progressive metal / fusion group Liquid Trio Experiment, and is the result of the studio improvisations of Liquid Tension Experiment which occurred while John Petrucci was with his wife while she was giving birth. The trio of Mike Portnoy, Tony Levin and Jordan Rudess continued to write music during this period. It was released on October 23, 2007. A few songs from Liquid Tension Experiment 2 were spawned from these jam sessions including "914", "Chewbacca", and "Liquid Dreams". The song "Chris & Kevin's Bogus Journey" is not a reference to Portnoy and Petrucci's former Dream Theater bandmates Chris Collins and Kevin Moore, but rather to the track on Liquid Tension Experiment's first album entitled "Chris & Kevin's Excellent Adventure", which is itself a reference to the band's photographer's habit of calling Mike Portnoy and Tony Levin "Chris and Kevin", even after being corrected several times. It is also a reference to the 1991 film Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey, the sequel to Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure. The song "Jazz Odyssey" is a reference to the movie This Is Spinal Tap, in which Spinal Tap experiments with an improvisational song of the same name.

While the jams were improvised in 1998, it took until 2007 to release them, as the master tapes of the jams were somehow misplaced before they were delivered to Magna Carta. The recordings on the album (and "the only remaining records of these sessions in existence") were taken from Portnoy's 2-track stereo DAT.

Small clips from each song on the album can be found on Magna Carta's official LTE site here

Spontaneous Combustion was an American music group founded in 1986. They performed what they called "bluerock", a bluegrass/ rock music fusion. The band consisted of Roger Eilts (guitar, vocals), Leo Eilts (bass, vocals), Scott Prowell (mandolin, banjo, dobro, vocals) and Marvin Gruenbaum (violin, vocals). They often were billed as The Spontaneous Combustion Bluegrass Band or when they performed with former members of Total Strangers as Spontaneous Combustion/Total Strangers. They were a popular act at the Sante Fe Trails Bluegrass Festival and the Walnut Valley Festival.