Ok, picture this I make a salve that burns at a low temperature, low enough so that it wont burn me. Then I rub that in my hair and light it on fire and head on out for Halloween. Pretty cool huh? So is there a substance that burns at cool enough temperatures that I could do that?
err alcohol soaked rags?
just a WAG, but I felt the need to Bump this from the bottom of page two.
Osip
I used to do fire-eating as part of my old stand-up act. (Don’t ask, you had to be there) No one taught me how to do it. I was one of the kids that tried it at home after they told me not to… and it happened to work.
I usually used a small torch rag dipped in rubbing alcohol because while it COULD burn, the burns were pretty light since the flame was so cool. Plus, it came in wintergreen (I have NO idea why) so if any accidentally dripped on my tongue, it would just taste like Scope.
So my vote is with Osip.
Of course, some chemist here is gonna tell us about something that catches fire at 68 degrees. I just know it.
I don’t think it matters if something catches at a low temperature. This doesn’t necessarily relate to the temperature of the flame itself.
There’s a problem with this plan. If something burns at a low enough temperature that it won’t hurt you, it’ll probably produce too little light, too far in the infrared, to be visible. There are plenty of common substances that burn at such temperatures, but you probably didn’t even think of them because you don’t see flames with them. Iron, for example: The process of rusting is basically the same as an extremely slow burning.
What chronos said.
I found a special effects products page that has a pyro gel that burns cool at 800 degrees (about half the temperature of a candle}, but I don’t think that’s going to be cool enough for you.
Eh? In the words of Kid Rock, I was born at night but not last night baby. I thought rust was a covalent (ionic?) reaction between the incomplete electrons rings in the iron atoms with the oxygen in the air. I thought burning involved combustion - i.e. stuff+spark=broken up stuff+flame.
Isn’t “burning” just combining something with oxygen?
Isn’t “combining with oxygen” exactly what rust is?
“Flame” usually involves combustion because when something catches fire, a lot of it (relatively) goes up at once.
durnit
oh well, yeah 800 is a wee bit hot. I suppose that the best I can do is something like the umm, band that us … does a lot of wierd stuff … umm not the one with Anthony Keitis(sp?) The Red Hot Chili Peppers. Although in doing so they almost burned that actress, as I have seen on MTV’s award show. And since I am NOT that stupid I might jsut get some of those glow sticks break em and use it. Not the same but I gues, sigh, it’ll do. Thank you all
It’s not WHAT you use dude, just take any old flammable stuff and use A LOT of it! I mean really soak that head through with that terpentine man!
Look forward to seeing you on the news 
— G. Raven
p.s. I am of course not serious, just in case you read this in a hurry
You rang?
I appreciate your caution Morrison, but thankfully
Hmm, not sure I could last all night with you in my hair.
Forget it. Mod haircuts went out years ago 
“Went out”! Geddit? I kill myself!
be sure to not try this one:
The hottest flame is carbon subnitride (C sub-4 N sub-2 ), which at one atm can produce a flame
calculated to reach 5,261 K.
Hoo-wee! Where can I get me some of that Handy? I thought C[sub]2[/sub]H[sub]2[/sub] burned hot but at least I can buy that over the counter.
Chronos is, of course, right. The amount of light emitted is directly related to the temperature (burning or not, a bulb’s filament is not burning). Iron is slowly “burning” but does not emitt light.
I would make a distinction and call combustion (rather than “flame”) a process in a chain reaction which is not the case with oxidizing iron but is the case with burning coal.
In any case, the OP might want to look at other ways of making light like fosforescence. You know those things that have a liquid inside that glows in the dark? Spray some of that all over you… better yet, drink a couple of pints so you’ll glow all over. That would fun for those around you to see _
[SUB]Diclaimer: By attempting this you release me and everyone else of all liability. Should this release not hold up in court you agree to submit to the jurisdiction of the courts of Hainan Island, PROC.[/SUB]
Flame is the result of combustible vapors combining with oxygen. A solid that combines with oxygen to form a solid may get incandescently hot (magnesium, thermite, etc.), but you won’t get a flame per se.
When vapors burn, you get visible light from two different sources: first, you get light energy directly from the reaction of the oxygen with whatever is burning (most commonly hydrogen, carbon, and carbon monoxide). This produces the blue flame you see at the base of candles and the blue of a gas jet. Secondly, if the burning substance contains carbon and is boiling off faster than can be immediately oxidized, you get soot particles that are heated to a red to yellow-white heat before being oxidized away. This produces the major portion of the light we see in flames, but actually shows that the flame is not burning as cleanly as it could. In gas mantle lamps, you have a burner that produces a blue flame that heats the mantle to a bright white incandescence, giving much more light than if you tried to get a yellow flame directly.
The reason that alcohol burns “coolly” is that it’s the vapor that burns, not the liquid. The alcohol evaporating off your skin cools it enough to largely shield it from the heat generated by the flame. In general, you want a flammible liquid that has a boiling point very close to room temperature. Alcohol is probably the best you’ll do, although butane or ether might also work.*
*provided they don’t explode that is.
I take a ball of cotton, light it & put it in &out of my mouth quickly. This has a pretty low temperature flame & its always worked just fine for me. I read about it in a book first. It looks really scary to people watching but believe me its been really safe for me.