Fingering instability in combustion: an extended view.

We detail the experimental situation concerning the fingering instability that occurs when a solid fuel is forced to burn against a horizontal oxidizing wind. The instability appears when the Rayleigh number for convection is below criticality. The focus is on the developed fingering state. We present direct measurements of the depletion of oxygen by the front as well as new results that connect heat losses to the characteristic scale of the instability. In addition, we detail the experimental system, elaborate (qualitatively and quantitatively) on the results that were previously presented, and discuss new observations. We also show that the same phenomenological model applies to electrochemical deposition.