What people used before matches were tinderbox as well as flint and steel.
Flint and steel involved striking of a piece of steel against a flint rock to create sparks which would ignite tinder.
Tinderbox is a container holding tinder such as charred cloth, along with flint and steel, which was used to catch the sparks and build a fire.
And if a fire was already going, people would use embers that could be carefully transferred to new kindling to start a new fire.
And lenses could also be used to focus sunlight onto tinder to start a fire, but this method was limited to sunny days.
Other ways of starting a fire would be using friction and heat to ignite tinder such as through sticks and rocks and using fire piston which is a more advanced method using rapid compression to generate heat.
John Walker, an English chemist and apothecary invented the match in 1872.
John Walker first sold his Friction lights in 1827.
And while John Walker's matches were a great step forward they were not without their flaws.
The matches, which ignited when scraped against sandpaper also had a tendency to drop burning material and potentially cause damage, although it laid the groundwork for modern matches.
The safety match was later invented in 1844 by Gustaf Eric Pasch and Johan Edvard Lundstrom in Sweden, which separated the flammable ingredients and made the matches safer to use.
The tip of a match is called a match head which contains red phosphorous and chemicals which ignite when it's struck against a surface that is rough due to friction.
The reason why a matchstick burns on rubbing it on the side of the matchbox is due to friction which generates heat and then ignites the flammable chemicals on the match head and cause it to ignite.
The reason why the side of a matchbox is kept rough is to increase friction, which is required for lighting a match.
When you strike a match against the rough surface of the matchbox, the friction generates heat, which then ignites the flammable chemicals on the match head and causes it to ignite.
A matchstick lights up when it is struck is due to a chemical reaction and the friction which converts a small amount of red phosphorus on the striking surface with the phosphorus on the match.
Lighting a match involves a chemical reaction which is triggered by friction.
When you strike a match, the friction converts a small amount of red phosphorus on the striking surface with the phosphorus, that ignites easily.
The striking surface on a matchbox contains red phosphorus, along with other ingredients like glass powder and sand, which provide the necessary friction.
Safety matches, unlike "strike anywhere" matches, require a separate striking surface to ignite.
When the match is struck, the friction converts a small amount of red phosphorus into white phosphorus, which is highly flammable.
The initial flame of the match ignites the potassium chlorate in the match head, which releases oxygen which sustains the combustion of sulfur and other materials, which ultimately set the wood of the match ablaze.
Rubbing of the match head against a rough surface such as the striking strip on the matchbox, creates friction, the heat from the friction then converts a small amount of red phosphorus that is found on the striking surface of safety matches or in the match head of strike anywhere matches into white phosphorus.
The white phosphorus is highly reactive and ignites spontaneously in air at relatively low temperatures.
And the initial flame is crucial for starting the subsequent reactions.
The heat from the burning white phosphorus also decomposes potassium chlorate which is an oxidizing agent that is present in the match head, which releases oxygen.
This oxygen that is released then combines with sulfur as well as other combustible materials in the match head, which sustains a rapid combustion process.
The heat and flames from the burning match head then also ignite the wood of the match and allow it to continue to burn.
Lighting a match is basically a chain reaction in which friction initiates a series of chemical reactions, which lead to combustion and a sustained flame on the match.