system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
Why is it that only oxygen and maybe flourine/chlorine to a certain extent are about the only gases that support combustion?

I'm trying to understand what exactly happens in a combustion process on a more fundamental level - about why only  certain substances support combustion. We have so many fuels. But we need oxygen for the combustion to take place. Can someone offer any insight on this matter?
gpt
There aren't many chemicals that are both light/non-polar enough to persist as gases while also being aggressively oxidative enough to peel electrons off of relatively stable hydrocarbons.

Oxygen, fluorine, and chlorine are the three most electronegative elements, they will readily oxidize many compounds.  That reaction is typically highly exothermic.

There are stronger oxidizing agents out there, but they're often too large/unstable to enter the gas phase in large quantities and produce a flame.