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Chemistry Forums for Students => Undergraduate General Chemistry Forum => Topic started by: horo1988 on November 05, 2007, 06:10:48 PM

Title: Scorch pattern - What is this?
Post by: horo1988 on November 05, 2007, 06:10:48 PM

I did this experiment and have no clue what they r trying to teach me.

-Light your candle, and allow it to burn for 1 minute.
-Quickly lower a white 3" x 5" index card (held horizontally) down into the candle flame.
-Hold the card in this position until the upper side of the card begins to scorch, but not until it catches on fire. Hold it steady.
-If it does catch on fire, place the burning index card in a beaker, and try again with a new card.
Note the scorch pattern on top of the card.
(https://www.chemicalforums.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fmedia.nasaexplores.com%2Flessons%2F01-064%2Fimages%2Fcandle4.jpg&hash=6bc1804769d55d0666815ddfeb977cfdaaebd996)
Source: nasaexplores.com
All I saw was a yellowish brown circle on the card.

Can somebody please give me some hints? What r they trying to show us? :-\

Title: Re: Scorch pattern - What is this?
Post by: agrobert on November 05, 2007, 07:43:50 PM

I would assume they want you to understand how the flame has different concentrations of heat that dissipate along a radius as you leave the center of the flame.