What is Fire?

We know that fire is the result of the combustion of organic material and oxygen.

But, I still wonder what “Fire” is. Don’t You? Why are gas  burning flames blue, and wood burning flames orange? And why do flames move the way they do?

Chemistry tells us the recipe for combustion. But it doesn't tell us about that fantastic light show. That light show is all physics!
When a flame is burning hot and clean, like a gas flame, blow torch or the base of a candle flame. The heat is exciting the molecules releasing a “pale blue” light. This happens because of “Atomic Transitions, and that my friends is Quantum Mechanics!

When the fuel for the flame is not pure and does not burn as hot or entirely (ie. Coal, Wood fires and the top of a candle flame) there is still the blue light like in the gas flames, but you cannot see it. This is due to that blue light being overpowered by the particles of soot and smoke glowing red hot.

Now where does that glow come from? Why do we glow?

This is actually the process known as “Black Body Radiation”. Black Body Radiation is the process that makes everything glow with colored light. The color of the light all depends on the temperature of the heat, or flame. We put off heat don’t we? Why don’t we glow? Well, simply put the reason we don’t see ourselves or our friend’s glowing is because our glow is not put out in the visible light spectrum. We actually glow in the infra-red spectrum.

Things like Hot Soot, lava flows or a piece of metal like Iron in a hot flame will glow with a bright Red or Orange light.

Now why do flames appear to be forever snaking upwards to the sky?

That my dear friends is GRAVITY!

The earth’s pull is what makes heat rise. This is what shapes the flame into the form we have come to know so well. Now if you were to take a flame into zero gravity, the flame would take a shape resembling a balloon. It would actually spread outward from the source of the fire. This happens because there is nothing (gravity) telling the flame where to go which dictates its shape. It then expands outwards in all directions.

And that my friends.. is fire.

Where Does Pink Come From?!

Where is Pink Light? It’s actually not there at all.

So where does it come from?

Pink is actually a mixture of “Red” and “Blue” light. It’s made up of light from both ends of the rainbow, that our brains perceive as one color.

If you attempt to roll up the rainbow into say, a color wheel. You would find a gap in between Red and Violet. This Gap is where all of the other wavelengths of light would fit. These are the wavelengths we cannot “see”, ie. Radio waves, Microwaves, Gamma Rays, Ultraviolet, X-rays etc.

Since we cannot “see” any of those wavelengths, our brains replace all of that hidden brilliance with “Pink”.

When speaking in terms of light, “Pink” should actually be called “Minus Green” because all “Pink” is in terms of light is the leftovers from White Light when you take all of the green out.