Has anyone ever seen anything you can add to the wax to get this effect?
Thinking back to high school chemistry, my first thought was that some sort of metal was being added to the wax that would burn to create a different color. Looking into this a little further it seems in most cases this would create a toxic byproduct. Now my second guess would be some sort of oil, that would burn more evenly, but I don’t even know where to start. Any ideas?
Fight my ignorance, what hazardous chemicals do you get from burning small amounts of metal? I thought burning copper got you a green flame and cupr(ic? ous?) oxide.
Considering that fireworks do get their colors from metals, I can’t see why candles can’t be colored the same way.
This page has a chart that will tell you which metal salt will produce what color, as well as a cautionary against using certain compounds because of harmful byproducts.
I noted lithium chloride in your first link and was curious as to whether lithium carbonate would behave differently.
Empirical studies have shown that lithium carbonate also burns red, but that I need a bigger flame source.
Question- You’ve given cites for the visible spectrum. Is there a compound I can burn to get a ‘black light’ flame, something in the near UV like the lamps sold at Spencer’s Gifts?
Thanks for the help and links. If I successfully make any of these, I will definitely post pictures.
DocCathode, you may very well be correct. I don’t know if burning a smell amount would actually be harmful or not, but I would hate to accidently poison someone with a candle while they were watching TV. :smack:
To clarify, my “what the hell” was not meant as any kind of challenge. I couldn’t think of any toxic products and figured, ‘what the hell, I shall risk exposing my ignorance on this matter.’
Makes sense now. At first I was a little confused, but now I understand. Thanks for clarifying.
I also found out I have that I just happen to have some sodium borate, which will hopefully create a green colored flame. I’m going to try tomorrow afternoon. Thanks again.
This has got to be the best part of my job (pharmaceutical chemist)… identity tests! I tested a potassium phosphate solution last week, and sodium chloride this week. Light up the bunsen burner and spend the next 20 minutes looking at the pretty coloured flame you get when you burn the solutions. Of course, I could do the test in about 30 seconds, but it is just so much fun to do!
This is a bit of a WAG, because my brain long ago forgot most of this stuff. I recall that light is emitted when an electron jumps between different orbits around an atom. The wavelength of light is proportional to the energy delta.
Wouldn’t creating UV or near UV require a very energetic jump. Perhaps why welding creates UV due to the very energetic changes in structure in the rigid crystalline metal?
Again, please note the WAG disclaimer. I’m only adding this in the hope that somebody much more knowledgable than me picks up and fills in my dumb-gaps.