Q. How do a lighter and gas cooking stove get ignited?

A. A Lighter uses butane gas and gasoline as fuel while a gas cooking stove at home uses propane gas and city (natural) gas (primarily methane gas) as fuel. The fuel contained in a plastic lighter case is a liquid but is butane gas. Although butane gas is a vapor normally, it becomes a liquid under a little pressure. The butane is ignited by a spark. There are several ways to do so. One of them is to use an ignition alloy. The ignition alloy is an alloy of cerium or lanthanum and iron that Welsbach of Austria discovered. When this alloy is rubbed strongly by iron, it produces a spark by the heat of friction. Also, there is an ignition device called piezo ceramic, in which a ceramic containing titan is pressured, it produces high piezoelectricity and ignites. There is also a continuous spark method of ignition using an induction coil.