What is the chemical reaction when a candle burns?

And when you light a candle you use the candle’s wax as fuel for a chemical reaction called combustion which involves reacting hydrocarbons with oxygen, breaking them down into carbon dioxide and water.

What state of matter is flame of a candle?

A candle flame will primarily be a mixture of hot gases (air and vaporised paraffin wax). The oxygen in the air reacts with the paraffin to produce heat, light and carbon dioxide. Other materials – such as magnesium – burn much hotter, resulting in the fourth state of matter: plasma.

What causes the color of a candle flame?

The colors of a flame are caused by bits of wax molecules that didn’t get completely reacted. These glow a certain color when they get to be a certain temperature. Since different parts of the flame have different temperatures, these bits of wax molecules make those areas of the flame glow with different colors.

How does a candle work chemistry?

Candles produce light by making heat through a chemical reaction called combustion. Candle wax is made up of hydrogen and carbon atoms. When a candle is lit, the heat melts the wax near the wick and causes it to be drawn up into the wick. As the liquid wax is heated, it becomes a hot gas and breaks down into molecules.

What is the chemical formula of candle?

Paraffin wax (or petroleum wax) is a soft colorless solid derived from petroleum, coal or oil shale that consists of a mixture of hydrocarbon molecules containing between twenty and forty carbon atoms….Paraffin wax.

What is candle wax made of chemically?

Paraffin wax in particular is made of a mix of hydrocarbon molecules with a varying number of carbon atoms that are obtained from crude oil. Therefore, the chemical composition of most wax is just carbon and hydrogen. When burned, wax mixes with the air to create heat, carbon dioxide and water vapor!

Is fire a mixture or compound?

For the most part, fire is a mixture of hot gases. Flames are the result of a chemical reaction, primarily between oxygen in the air and a fuel, such as wood or propane. In addition to other products, the reaction produces carbon dioxide, steam, light, and heat.

What is a flame of fire?

A flame (from Latin flamma) is the visible, gaseous part of a fire. It is caused by a highly exothermic chemical reaction taking place in a thin zone. Very hot flames are hot enough to have ionized gaseous components of sufficient density to be considered plasma.

What is a candle flame?

What is Candle Flame? Candles produce light by releasing heat and all the turn on the candle produces come from a chemical reaction known as combustion in which wax reacts with oxygen in the air to produce carbon dioxide. The substances that vaporize while burning produces the flame.

Why the candle flame is yellow?

Burning of wax is burning low energy fuel in a low oxygen content. The incomplete burning of wax produces small unburnt carbon particles. When wax burns the unburnt carbon atoms get heated and form a luminous yellow flame.

How can a candle start a fire?

Candles turn to liquid in order to release their fragrance and this wax carries heat and that can cause another surface, such as a wood table, to catch fire. Over half of candle fires start because the candle is too close to combustible materials.

What type of heat transfer is a candle?

Heat transfer from the candle flame occurs by the combined processes of conduction, convection and radiation and produces a solid to liquid phase change in the low melting point wax.