Can Vaseline Burn?

Most recent answer: 09/30/2010

Q:
Vaseline is a mixture of paraffin and petroleum jelly. The latter is a byproduct in the petroleum industry. Is vaseline flammable, and if so, can it spontaneously ignite/combust?
- Marc (age 40)
Melbourne, Australia
A:
Yes it can, but it has a relatively high combustion temperature.   It is very unlikely that it will spontaneously combust because it is not very volatile and its oxidation rate is very slow.

LeeH

(published on 09/30/2010)