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Topic: Turning Fire Blue Safely.  (Read 15522 times)

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Mattatya

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Turning Fire Blue Safely.
« on: October 06, 2005, 05:41:02 AM »
I am throwing a party for a friends birthday next month and the theme of the party is blue.  I am rolling around some ideas in my head and came up with wanted to change the color of fire to blue.  I have seen it done with Poi stick fire dancers but don't know if I can use it for this application.  

1. I would like to have a fire going in our fire place with a press log or fire wood soaked in a chemical then dried and lit up before guest arrive that flames a blue color.

2. I am going to be using about 15 tiki torches and was wondering if I could put something in the citra oil that would cause the flame to be blue.

Any safe ideas on this one?
Let me know.
Matt S.

Garneck

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Re:Turning Fire Blue Safely.
« Reply #1 on: October 06, 2005, 07:10:39 AM »
I doubt there will be any safe ways to do that. Or at least I can't think of anything like that.  :(

Offline mike

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Re:Turning Fire Blue Safely.
« Reply #2 on: October 06, 2005, 08:03:04 PM »
methane burns with a blue flame, maybe you could use gas burners for the party.
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Offline xiankai

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Re:Turning Fire Blue Safely.
« Reply #3 on: October 07, 2005, 06:56:53 AM »
that would require complete combustion. make sure u have plenty of air too.
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Garneck

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Re:Turning Fire Blue Safely.
« Reply #4 on: October 07, 2005, 03:19:53 PM »
Methane may give a blue flame, but only at the bottom.. the upper part of the flame will be yellow..

Offline mike

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Re:Turning Fire Blue Safely.
« Reply #5 on: October 07, 2005, 07:55:19 PM »
Methane may give a blue flame, but only at the bottom.. the upper part of the flame will be yellow..

I don't know about that, most of the gas flames I have seen are very blue!
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Garneck

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Re:Turning Fire Blue Safely.
« Reply #6 on: October 08, 2005, 12:48:20 PM »

Offline constant thinker

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Re:Turning Fire Blue Safely.
« Reply #7 on: October 08, 2005, 07:52:17 PM »
Do any of the alkaline metals (2nd column of elements) burn with a blue flame?
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Offline jdurg

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Re:Turning Fire Blue Safely.
« Reply #8 on: October 08, 2005, 09:36:44 PM »
Cesium salts impart a distinctly sky-blue color to flames.  The problem is that cesium salts are not readily available, nor are they cheap.  Also, sodium and calcium both produce yellow/orange colored flames and are major contaminants in everything.  Even worse is that just a tiny bit of sodium or calcium ions in a flame will overpower virtually every other element out there.

You could get some potassium chloride and add that to all of your fires.  Potassium salts burn with a lovely lilac color which is pretty neat looking.
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Offline mike

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Re:Turning Fire Blue Safely.
« Reply #9 on: October 09, 2005, 03:39:27 AM »
I still think methane is the way to go, cheap, safe and will keep you warm.

Looks blue to me garneck ;)
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Offline mike

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Re:Turning Fire Blue Safely.
« Reply #10 on: October 09, 2005, 03:40:12 AM »
Yes definetly blue ;)
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Garneck

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Re:Turning Fire Blue Safely.
« Reply #11 on: October 09, 2005, 04:20:31 PM »
Mike, well then it must depend on the type of the burner..  because the top of a methane flame should be yellow.

Offline mike

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Re:Turning Fire Blue Safely.
« Reply #12 on: October 09, 2005, 06:39:46 PM »
Mike, well then it must depend on the type of the burner..  because the top of a methane flame should be yellow.

Why is this so? I have not heard this before. Your photo sure does have a yellow top to the flame though. What is your photo of exactly, I can't really determine the scale.

Surely you must agree that this is the best suggestion though, for a party that needs some blue coloured flames!!!
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Offline Borek

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Re:Turning Fire Blue Safely.
« Reply #13 on: October 09, 2005, 07:17:58 PM »
Bottom (blue ) part of the flame is where the hydrogen is burnt. Once the methane is stripped of hydrogen what is left goes up as soot and burns too - but most of the oxygen was already used, so this part of the flame has much lower temperature and the color of the flame reflects this fact.

If the methane is mixed with oxygen it can burn much better, as carbon is burnt in lower parts of the flame, together with hydrogen. That's how Bunsen burner works.

The problem is, the blue part of the flame is relatively dark - not as bright as the yellow flame. Thus blue flame will be barely visible, while any yellow part will catch attention.
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Offline mike

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Re:Turning Fire Blue Safely.
« Reply #14 on: October 09, 2005, 08:06:01 PM »
Yes this makes sense.

What you need are outdoor gas heaters, we have them here and they defiently have a blue flame, as you say though Borek not as bright as a yellow flame, but blue no the less.
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