ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Char cloth

Char cloth is like a magic material that can start fires. Imagine you have a piece of cotton fabric. Now, if you light it up with fire, it will get burnt and turn into ashes. But, if you put that same cotton fabric into a container with no air and heat it up, it will transform into char cloth.

Char cloth looks black and crispy, like it's been burned, but it's not ashes. Instead, it's a special kind of cotton that has gone through a process called pyrolysis, which is just a fancy word for heating it up without oxygen.

When you go camping, char cloth can be really useful. To start a fire, you need something known as a tinder that catches fire quickly. Char cloth makes excellent tinder because it catches fire very easily from even the smallest spark.

So, if you're stuck, and you want to start a fire and keep warm, you can take a small piece of char cloth, and if you rub a flint rock or a piece of metal on it, it will create a tiny spark which can then light up the char cloth. And just like that, you have a flame that can help start a bigger fire!