It may come as no surprise to some that the matches we know today were actually invented after lighters. At their heart is a fairly complicated bit of chemical science which results in a miniature controlled explosion and heat.

To learn more about the chemicals involved and how they work together, as well as what you can do to maximize the life of your matches, take a look at the article below:

There are two kinds of matches: safety and strike anywhere. Safety matches won’t accidentally ignite in your pocket whereas strike anywhere matches can and sometimes do. Safety matches are also called strike-on-box.

The head of a strike anywhere match is a progressive “explosive train.” A tiny bit of primary explosive is detonated. That ignites the main body of the match head. That in turn ignites the paraffin wax, the burning paraffin in turn ignites the wooden stick.

The very tip of a strike-anywhere match contains potassium chlorate plus phosphorus sesquisulfide (a.k.a. tetraphosphorus trisulfide, trisulfurated phosphorus, and phosphorus sulfide). It’s is a primary explosive, sensitive to friction, impact, and heat.

Safety matches (strike-on-box) contain potassium chlorate plus sulfur in the match head and red phosphorus in the gritty striking surface printed on the matchbook or matchbox.

The act of striking produces friction and heat. The heat converts a tiny amount of red phosphorous into white phosphorous vapor which ignites spontaneously. This heat decomposes the potassium chlorate, liberating oxygen, and causes the sulfur to burn. This in turn ignites the body of the match.

Waterproof Matches

I decided to test some homegrown methods of waterproofing against commercial matches. The tests consisted of “waterproofing” ordinary strike anywhere matches (dipping in paraffin wax, painting with shellac, etc. . . . whatever recipes I could find), letting them dry 24 hours, then soaking them side-by-side with commercial waterproof matches in a bucket of water overnight.

I was astonished to find that the commercial waterproof matches didn’t work. The heads were all mushy and crumbled when striking. They might have been water resistant but none of them were waterproof. Ditto for the homegrown methods.

Conclusion: A container remains the only for-sure way I know to have a dry match when you need it.

Over the years, I have learned these tricks and tips for using matches.

1. One trick to increase your supply of paper matches is to split them in half. Granted, lighting requires nimble fingers and some of the halves will fail. Nevertheless, splitting the matches will increase your effective match count by 75% or so. I recommend that you split just a few and experiment before you split everything.

2. You can light paper safety matches on a penny matchbox or on a box of kitchen-size safety matches or on a strike anywhere box!

3. Sometimes, in attempting to light a strike anywhere match, the primary tip is broken off before the match lights. Can a strike anywhere match WITHOUT ITS TIP be lit on a book of safety matches? Yes. It requires two or three quick, brisk strokes, but it can be done.

4. Long-term storage. Humidity is the enemy. Solutions include fruit canning jars, Tupperware, and recycled plastic containers of all kinds (think coffee, pretzels, whey protein powder). Seal the lid with silicone calking.

5. For a desiccant (to soak up humidity inside the container), you can use silica gel (found in the craft section of Walmart) or powdered non-dairy creamer in an envelope made from a coffee filter. How to form the seams of the envelope? Fold over the filter edges a couple of times and staple them.

While the chemical reaction behind lighting a match is impressive and effective, its Achilles' Heel is moisture. This is the case with most firestarting methods, so it comes as no surprise. However, we are pleased to learn these out-of-the-box methods for eliminating the threat of humidity to our stored matches. It's nice to know that the often discarded silica packets can continue to serve a purpose by storing them with the matches, particularly around the match heads.

Thank you to Backdoor Survival for providing this highly informative and well-researched article on the science of maximizing the effectiveness of one of our most basic survival tools.