What is the minimum possible temperature that a candle can stay burning in a windless environment?
Will it be boiling point of oxygen? Curious about it..:)
Thanks!
Prince_James
05-31-08, 12:15 AM
Liquid oxygen burns, my good man. Ridiculously violently.
A standard candle would burn in any temperature with oxygen.
BenTheMan
05-31-08, 02:59 AM
Liquid oxygen burns, my good man. Ridiculously violently.
This is how we launch space shuttles...
Prince_James
05-31-08, 04:13 AM
Yes, precisely. Solid oxygen, too.
James R
05-31-08, 04:17 AM
Flame is produced at a certain temperature characteristic of the ingredients - the wax, the wick, the oxygen available, etc.
The ambient temperature doesn't really matter.
2inquisitive
05-31-08, 04:26 AM
Actually, oxygen will not burn on its own, it is an oxidizer, it supports combustion of other fuels when in its gaseous state.
A candle would not burn if it were in an oxygen rich enviroment where the ambient temperature was below -298 degrees F, as the oxygen would be in its liquid state, unable to evaporate into a gas to support burning.