Notice the black soot underneath the beaker. This soot,
which is made up mainly of carbon, formed just before it
entered the flame.
Within the flame of the candle, the carbon atoms don't
completely combine with the oxygen. Instead, they combine
with other surrounding atoms to form large molecules
consisting mainly of carbon. These soot molecules get so hot
that they glow. The orange-red flame color comes from the
glowing soot as it feeds into the flame.
That's it for On Fire. If you have skipped any of the
four sections, select that section below.
