Yahoo Answers is shutting down on May 4th, 2021 (Eastern Time) and beginning April 20th, 2021 (Eastern Time) the Yahoo Answers website will be in read-only mode. There will be no changes to other Yahoo properties or services, or your Yahoo account. You can find more information about the Yahoo Answers shutdown and how to download your data on this help page.
Trending News
What are flames made of?
I have a reasonable background in chemistry and physics, and I know what a combustion reaction is, but nobody has ever told me how we end up with a red/yellow/blue/green/whatever glow that seems to radiate ABOVE a burning material, instead of the material itself glowing.
This part is irrelevant, but I figured I'd add that the first result for categorizing this question was under Sports > Hockey. Just... dafuq?
Edit: Looking at these replies, I need a bit more clarity: If I'm burning a log, are gases released from it? Are these burning gases the source of the red/yellow flame?
2 Answers
- Anonymous8 years ago
Fire as we know it is the rapid oxidation of a material during combustion, releasing heat, light, and various reaction products.
The physical flame we see is a a mixture of reacting gases and solids emitting visible, infrared, and sometimes ultraviolet light.
- 8 years ago
because a complete burn would mean a single color. when a substance burns obviously a lot of reactions are taking place. look up schlirren lines and the mixing of gases. each level of burn is going to create a different visual