hangdiver

I don't know how I remember this, but in fifth grade we used to read these little science newsletters printed on cheap paper with articles about current science events. Anyway, one of the articles was about spontaneous human combustion. Most of the cases were dismissed as having an ignition source but one. In this case, a man had been using WD-40 to treat his arthritis which is somewhat common treatment for old, hillbilly types. He had been spraying it on most of his joints for years. One day the man spontaneously combusted and a team of scientists studied the case. They concluded that the WD-40 had reacted with chemicals in his body and created a highly reactive chemical that would combust with low ignition. His body was so full of this chemical that it caused him to spontaneously combust. I remember that the article named chemicals and showed the reactions empirically, and it seemed to me to be valid, but I was only in fifth grade at the time.