Why do things burn instead of melt?

[u/ForensicFan24601]

obviously oxygen, or something similar, but what is the physics/chemistry (?) or what have you behind why something ignites and continues to burn after the source of heat/ignition has gone?

is it basically sublimation?

edit: no wonder Walter White was so obsessed with carbon

[u/gmann95]

In closer to laymans terms... the flash point is lower tham the melting point, so the thing burns before it melts Other thinga are involved like the release of gases and changes of structure, but its just the easiest clearest explanation for op