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Topic: Turning Fire Blue Safely.  (Read 15527 times)

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Offline mike

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Offline Borek

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Re:Turning Fire Blue Safely.
« Reply #16 on: October 10, 2005, 05:25:46 AM »
What about some of these sites?

They quote copper, AFAIR it gives very faint green/blue flame color. Potassium will be not really blue, but mixed with red (violet, purple, whichever way you want to name the color ;) ). And - as it is mentioned somewhere on these pages - there is usually enough sodium in the wood to mask any attempt to change the color of the fire. It will be probably especially visible in case of blue, which is very faint.

But then, trying with copper chloride won't hurt - although it will be not really blue flame, bluish at best. Better bluish then nothing.
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Offline limpet chicken

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Re:Turning Fire Blue Safely.
« Reply #17 on: October 10, 2005, 01:01:45 PM »
You could try using an ester, I have pepared some alkyl borate esters which dissolved in alcohol, add a bright green color to the flame.

Cobalt (II) compounds impart a bright blue color to a flame, you could try synthesising some sort of cobaltic ester, or a cobalt (II) alcoholate complex, cobalt alkoxides perhaps.

Never done the exact experiment myself, but I think it could work, say, prepare cobalt isopropoxide, and dissolve a small quantity in MeOH.
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Offline constant thinker

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Re:Turning Fire Blue Safely.
« Reply #18 on: October 10, 2005, 06:00:53 PM »
If the party is going to take place mainly at night then the blue flame would be more visible.

The cobaltic ester idea sounds cool and fun to make given it's possible. Isn't colbalt expensive also?
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Offline mike

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Re:Turning Fire Blue Safely.
« Reply #19 on: October 10, 2005, 06:48:53 PM »
You could try one of those "fake" fires made from a coloured piece of silk, a light and a fan. They often look quites real.
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Offline constant thinker

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Re:Turning Fire Blue Safely.
« Reply #20 on: October 10, 2005, 08:37:08 PM »
That is such an unbelievably good idea. Such a simple solution. It's simple enough for someone to at their home without any knowledge of chemistry and without having to worry about blowing themselves up. I don't know why anyone else didn't think of that sooner.
« Last Edit: October 10, 2005, 08:37:46 PM by constant thinker »
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Offline mike

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Re:Turning Fire Blue Safely.
« Reply #21 on: October 10, 2005, 09:17:08 PM »
oooh silk fire.. won't keep you warm though I guess.

and yes I realise this isn't blue!

I really wan't to know how this party turns out.
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Offline hmx9123

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Re:Turning Fire Blue Safely.
« Reply #22 on: October 10, 2005, 09:46:42 PM »
What you want for a blue fire is copper(I) chloride, also sold as campfire blue.  Soak a pinecone or some wood chips in a saturated solution for several weeks.  Then dry them out and when you're ready, toss them in the fire.  Solid colorants work, too, but getting them into the hot part of the flame is a problem.  As for the tiki torches, I don't know what to tell you.  The inorganic salts won't be very soluble.  If you were able to incorporate more chloride (such as through parlon or PVC) and add some hexamine, you could get a really excellent blue, but that's starting to get into a slightly more toxic and more pyrotechnic application.

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