The energy of FIRE

Loosely crumpled newspaper tossed on a fire, or perhaps only embers. It burns hugely bright and blinds, but lasts only half a minute. A big release of lots of energy, bright and colorful. Myriad rearrangements of the weirdly manifested numbers 1, 6, and 8. Cellulose becomes smoke, steam, gas, and ash.

Electron miscrope picture of paper (almost pure cellulose)

Paper and wood are made of cellulose, long chains of 1's, 6's, and 8's (Hydrogens, Carbons, and Oxygens) along with a scattering of other atoms. In the corners above that don't have a letter there are carbons (elsewhere designated 'C'). (The ultimate abbreviation - no lettering at all!)

The leftover ash has a lot of this in it:

Calcium Carbonate. So many oxygens left behind! The greens are 20-proton Calciums (oddly smaller than the others considering that they have substantially more protons, but there is a reason), the reds are 8-proton Oxygens, and the mostly hidden blacks making up the skeleton of this chunky thing are 6-proton Carbons, truly the building blocks of living matter.  A nice picture. It's from Wikipedia (2010 Jul 28; File:Calcium-carbonate-xtal-3D-vdW.png; author CCoil).
Some theories suggest that life could have been 14-Silicon-based instead of 6-Carbon-based, but all the life we know of uses carbon for its framework. (Thank you Star Trek - Episode ?)