I find this fascinating. This is a flame in zero gravity.
This also means that blowing out candles in space is four times easier than on Earth — a finding that more than justifies the Shuttle flights.
Here is the explanation from some smart people:
[A] candle can burn in zero gravity. However, the flame is quite a bit different. Fire behaves differently in space and microgravity than on Earth.
A microgravity flame forms a sphere surrounding the wick. Diffusion feeds the flame with oxygen and allows carbon dioxide to move away from the point of combustion, so the rate of burning is slowed. The flame of a candle burned in microgravity is an almost invisible blue color (video cameras on Mir could not detect the blue color). Experiments on Skylab and Mir indicate the temperature of the flame is too low for the yellow color seen on Earth.
Wow, cool.
I hope the witch burners never get into space. They may conclude that they are turning the witches into angels.
But, what about the flame of love in space? Is it spaced-out or does it flame-out?
WOW!!!!
This. The planet that rains rock. And Saturn has a newly discovered ring (it’s really big).
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8291905.stm
It has been a busy week in science news.
It looks cool but it snuffs itself out. I’d like to see what a flame does in a high gravity environment like the surface of the sun which is above 20g.
AY: WOW
I second that- just beautiful isn’t it.
From linked article:
“Smoke and soot production is different for candles and other forms of fire in space or zero gravity compared to candles on earth. Unless air flow is available, the slower gas exchange from diffusion can produce a soot-free flame. … Soot and smoke production depends on the fuel flow rate. …
It isn’t true that candles burn for a shorter length of time in space. Dr. Shannon Lucid (Mir), found that candles that burn for 10 minutes or less on Earth produced a flame for up to 45 minutes.”
That’s kind of a ‘WOW’ also. I wonder if that has application for clean energy. Could we burn dirty coal in a near vacuum and do it more cheaply than attempting (or actually holding out false hope for a red-herring like carbon sequestration) other coal burning methods?
Thanks for the Astronomy tip buddha, always nice to get updated in cosmology. I’m going to enjoy the article.