It’s one of those widely known yet obscure facts that, somehow, lighters were invented before friction matches. But don’t judge these simple sticks on their crude looks, there’s actually some complex chemistry going on.

Reactions, the American Chemical Society’s YouTube channel, has released a short video detailing the chain of chemical reactions that occur in the seconds between striking a match and its full fiery ignition.

Of course, no chemistry video is complete without some super-slow motion footage. So, with the help of the UltraSlo channel, here's some hypnotic ultra-slow shots of a match smoldering and bubbling away.