lumpking69
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How to Make candles with colored flames?
Howdy Folks!
As a hobby and to satisfy my curiosity I wanted to try to make candles with colored flames. My original idea was to use metallic salts but that was a
bust. It didn't work for various reasons that should have been obvious to me.
But I was thinking about trying metallic soaps and I was wondering what you folks thought about that? If you think it might work, which chemicals
exactly do you suggest I try?
I thank you all ahead of time!
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kecskesajt
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Maybe Boron trichloride reacter with paraffin.But the paraffin is quite unreactive.Or boron trioxide/borax finely powdered.But these sould NOT used
indoors because of the fumes.
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Mailinmypocket
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You need to use wicks that have been treated with the coloring agent of your choice, found this:
http://www.ehow.com/how_7803467_make-colored-flame-candles.h...
Note to self: Tare the damned flask.
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blogfast25
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I have doubts re. how well this would work, certainly no photos are presented.
Candle wax flames are of relatively low temperature, not high enough for many elements to get excited, I think. Only one way to find out, of
course...
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DraconicAcid
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I bought some candles that were supposed to have coloured flames once. The colours were very subtle.
Please remember: "Filtrate" is not a verb.
Write up your lab reports the way your instructor wants them, not the way your ex-instructor wants them.
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blogfast25
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With potassium it's so subtle you won't see it! (First hand experience, BTW)
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Metacelsus
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I've had limited success in making colored candles in the past. The wick needs to be impregnated with the coloring agent. I soaked mine in a saturated
solution, then dried it. Only the stronger colors work well.
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blogfast25
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Quote: Originally posted by Cheddite Cheese  | | I've had limited success in making colored candles in the past. The wick needs to be impregnated with the coloring agent. I soaked mine in a saturated
solution, then dried it. Only the stronger colors work well. |
Did you try the magnesium one? Since as flame tests for Mg are hard to do even with max. heat Bunsens, I doubt a candle flame would work at all.
[Edited on 6-7-2015 by blogfast25]
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UC235
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Hi. I posted to your thread on reddit a few days ago. I'm fairly sure that using regular paraffin wax will not work since the fuel inherently produces
a bright yellow flame. You need trimethyl citrate or a similar compound. I have since found this info sheet confirming my earlier assertion:
http://cdn.teachersource.com/downloads/Colorflame_compositio...
The stearin, stearamide, and clove oil are almost certainly there to plasticize the trimethyl citrate, which is probably too crumbly by itself to make
stable candles.
I am really unsure why they put potassium alum in the blue candle. I suspect it would work just as well without it added. Perhaps it provides opacity
to the "wax"
[Edited on 6-7-2015 by UC235]
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blogfast25
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| Quote: Originally posted by UC235 |
The stearin, stearamide, and clove oil are almost certainly there to plasticize the trimethyl citrate, which is probably too crumbly by itself to make
stable candles.
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Trimethyl citrate is described by Wiki as a "colorless, odorless liquid" (MP = - 55 C)
Stearin (glycerin tristearate) is a low melting solid.
[Edited on 6-7-2015 by blogfast25]
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UC235
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| Quote: Originally posted by blogfast25 |
Trimethyl citrate is described by Wiki as a "colorless, odorless liquid" (MP = - 55 C)
Stearin (glycerin tristearate) is a low melting solid.
[Edited on 6-7-2015 by blogfast25] |
There is not currently a wiki page for trimethyl citrate. You were probably reading the page for triethyl citrate.
Aldrich (http://www.sigmaaldrich.com/catalog/product/aldrich/27502) gives the melting point as 75-78C which is quite high for a candle wax, but probably
necessary for very narrow-diameter birthday candles.
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blogfast25
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Yep, my bad.
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zed
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Flame testing salts of elements themselves, produces only a transient color change in flames.
Your salts get "used up"
A bunsen burner produces a plenty hot enough flame. A candle not so much .
Blue you get for free......CO2 being formed. Yellow-Orange, from glowing carbon particles.
Green? Maybe you can get a little green? Fine copper wire in the wick?
Sodium works well, but sadly, it produces pretty much the same color as carbon particles.
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phlogiston
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I tried to make a red coloured candle by dissolving strontium soap and 1,4-dichlorobenzene (as a chlorine donor) in paraffin candle wax.
The soap was easily made from strontium nitrate and soft soap.
The 1,4-dichlorobenzene was from moth balls.
Although it was noticeably more red than the regular candles, it smelled terrible and produced massive amounts of soot. I would not call it a success.
boron and a lithium may be better choices for green/red respectively, as they do not require a chlorine donor.
[Edited on 7-7-2015 by phlogiston]
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"If a rocket goes up, who cares where it comes down, that's not my concern said Wernher von Braun" - Tom Lehrer |
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Metacelsus
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| Quote: Originally posted by blogfast25 | | Quote: Originally posted by Cheddite Cheese | | I've had limited success in making colored candles in the past. The wick needs to be impregnated with the coloring agent. I soaked mine in a saturated
solution, then dried it. Only the stronger colors work well. |
Did you try the magnesium one? Since as flame tests for Mg are hard to do even with max. heat Bunsens, I doubt a candle flame would work at all.
[Edited on 6-7-2015 by blogfast25] |
No, I did lithium, strontium, sodium, and barium. (Red and yellow worked best. The candle flame is yellow from incandescent carbon, so blue and green
don't show up very well).
[Edited on 7-7-2015 by Cheddite Cheese]
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CuReUS
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I had a crazy idea a long time back.What would happen if peroxide was mixed with the wax and a candle was made from that ? while burning,the peroxide
would decompose and release a lot of O2,which would give a blue flame due to complete combustion
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Metacelsus
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What kind of peroxide? Most organic ones still have a negative oxygen balance, and those that don't are quite unstable. It would need to dissolve in
the wax, and more importantly, not explode when you lit the candle.
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metalresearcher
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| Quote: Originally posted by blogfast25 |
Did you try the magnesium one? Since as flame tests for Mg are hard to do even with max. heat Bunsens, I doubt a candle flame would work at all.
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Mg does not have any flame color, unlike Na,K, Rb, Cs, Ca, Sr, Ba, I don't know why.
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blogfast25
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Temperature: Mg requires higher T for emission to become significant.
Spectra of some elements, scroll down a bit for magnesium.
[Edited on 7-7-2015 by blogfast25]
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CuReUS
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I had sodium perborate in mind.
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