system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
What state of matter is fire?
gpt
_Fire_ is most accurately described as a _reaction_ - an event - and therefore is not a state of matter. While there are components involved that are in the solid, liquid, gaseous, or plasma states, fire is more than just the sum of the components. It is also a chemical reaction - that is, these components are undergoing combustion reaction, and releasing heat in the form of atomic or molecular emission, and black body radiation.

The analogy I've always used is this: what is a _foot race_? Well it's not just a bunch of people on a track with a starter's pistol. It's an _event_. The people are _doing_ something, and there is sound, light, and all that stuff going on. So asking "what state of matter is fire" is akin to asking "what type of building is a race?"