Hottest part of a flame???
Neal Miyake
question for years and have never gotten a definitive answer.
My instincts say it's the tip of the orange point or teardrop, but my
spouse thinks it's at the tip of the blue core.
Please explain your answer. Thanks, in advance.
Neal
Nadeem
From what I recall, the hottest part of the flame in the invisible part
surrounding the visible part of the flame. I don't remember what this part
is called - ?corona maybe.
Nadeem
Ajay Gupta
hot because the reaction (oxidation ) is taking place where the flammable
substance is meeting air. Check an encyclopedia for a description of the
different zones in a flame.
-ajay
ps. the internet flames can be pretty hot too.
Mark Nelson
>What is the hottest part of a candle flame? I've been tortured by this
>question for years and have never gotten a definitive answer.
>
>My instincts say it's the tip of the orange point or teardrop, but my
>spouse thinks it's at the tip of the blue core.
>
>Please explain your answer. Thanks, in advance.
>
>Neal
The hottest temperatures are in the blue reaction zone near the
bottom and upward on the surface of the flame. The coolest is the
dark zone into which wax is vaporizing from the wick.
There's an *excellent* chapter on the candle (chemistry, physics,
strucutre, heat-transfer et al) which is very well written and
easy-to-understand in John W. Lyons "Fire" (Scientific American
Library, 1985 ISBN 0-7167-5010-4). This is an *excellent* book,
containing a very good introduction to fire.
Mark.
Lawrence Arthur Higby
I may be wrong but from what I remember from my chemistry labs in college, the
blue portion of the flame is the hottest. The center of the flame is the
hottest because it is the farther from the air that surrounds the flame and the
closest to the source of the flame. If you happen to have a bunsen burner or
something similar, you can really tell the difference because you can go from
an orange flame to a blue flame. We were always taught to use a blue flame to
speed the reactions up faster. As I said before, I might be wrong but this is
what I think. Besides, it doesn't matter, the whole flame is still hot. Hope
this helps. Merry Christmas.
Chip Higby
Student at North Carolina State Univ.
Tonek Jansen
> What is the hottest part of a candle flame? I've been tortured by this
> question for years and have never gotten a definitive answer.
>
> My instincts say it's the tip of the orange point or teardrop, but my
> spouse thinks it's at the tip of the blue core.
>
> Please explain your answer. Thanks, in advance.
>
> Neal
My first reaction was that the blue part is hotter than the orange part.
The reason is that black-body radiation that we perceive as blue
corresponds to a higher temperature than black-body radiation that we
perceive as orange.
On second thoughts I think that this argument is incorrect. I cannot
imagine that some part of a candle flame can be as hot as a orange
star, let alone a blue one.
So if it isn't black-body radiation, why are the colours of a candle
flame what they are?
Tonek
tgt...@chem.tue.nl
Warren Vidrine
radiation is the yellow part where there are burning carbon
particles. The blue part mostly has an atomic line spectrum.
Also remember that ions which have recently been part of
energetic reactions do not follow a Boltzman distribution of
energies.
Warren
Alan "Uncle Al" Schwartz
>What is the hottest part of a candle flame? I've been tortured by this
>question for years and have never gotten a definitive answer.
>
>My instincts say it's the tip of the orange point or teardrop, but my
>spouse thinks it's at the tip of the blue core.
>
>Please explain your answer. Thanks, in advance.
I do a little glass blowing. The hottest part of a flame is just beyond
the inner cone in a mixed gas/oxygen flame.
--
Alan "Uncle Al" Schwartz
uncl...@ix.netcom.com ("zero" before "@")
http://vvv.com/adsint/freehand/uncleal/
"Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?" The Net!
Myke Stanbridge
The hottest part of a flame is the most central
part of the oxidation/reduction interface. This
is just above the tip of the inner 'blue' flame
and on axis; provided that no cross-flow of air
deflects the flame and that the fuel/air mix is
adjusted for maximum temperature.
Myke.
Bradley D. Tice
the wood, since this is where pyrolysis is occurring, and this process is
where most of the heat from combustion (of wood or coal) occurs (rather
than in the actual flames). Now, if you're burning something other than
wood, I would imagine that a similiar principle applies, so the hottest
part of a fire is where the combustion reaction occurs (possibly at the
very base of the flame).
First, we ought to define the flame, the type of flame, combustion, and
where it occurs (is the flame a combustion reaction, or is it a bright
product stream from a combustion reaction), and then determine which part
is hottest.
Just my two cents,
Brad
In article <4as93j...@newsman.murdoch.edu.au>,
Steve Eisenstein
>The hottest part of the flame would be the area closest to the surface of
>the wood, since this is where pyrolysis is occurring, and this process is
>
>Just my two cents,
>Brad
Brad - you get a refund of your two cents. Pyrolysis is an
endothermic reaction and COOLS the very region in which it occurs.
You only have to do a little research to find out that the hottest
part is where OXIDATION is taking place at the maximum rate. Myke is
closer to right. When classical scientists used a candle flame to
burn substances they augmented the UPPER part of the flame with air
from a blow-pipe and focused the now more rapidly oxidizing - heat
producing - part of the flame on the substrate they were studying.
Cluless
>What is the hottest part of a candle flame? I've been tortured by this
>question for years and have never gotten a definitive answer.
From the perspective of the moth, it's a matter of indifference.