Space and Physics
PUBLISHED
Blowing out a candle and relighting it – it’s not sorcery, it’s chemistry.
The rest of this article is behind a paywall. Please sign in or subscribe to access the full content.Grab a candle and light it. The flame of a lit wick vaporizes the candle wax surrounding it, giving off heat and light. Blow out the candle and now you’ve just got a sad, wispy trail of smoke. But wait! That smoke from the smoldering wick still has some wax in it and this wax hasn’t fully burned. If you light this smoky trail quickly enough after blowing out the candle, the wisps will reignite and carry the reignition down to the wick. And the candle is aflame again!
YouTube user brusspup demonstrates the science behind this fire wizardry in the video below.
[H/T Huffington Post]
