Jump To Content

How to create Colored Flames



I remember when I was a kid, as I tended the wood stove to warm the house I would rummage through my old Nintendo Power magazines looking for colorful pages in attempt to change the flames hue. It was no doubt a young child's early footsteps to a pyromania lifestyle. Though, my career as a fire magician was pretty hit and miss until one Chemistry class my teachers "project" was The Method of Coloring Fire. As you can imagine, I was quite excited.

Many years later, it was one of the few things from school that stuck. I now share my knowledge with you.

Preparation
In order to get great results you will need to prepare your colorants with either Pinecones or Sawdust. If you try to mix your colorants without these materials you will most likely get a regular orange-yellow hue. And that's no fun.

Do the following steps separately for each color:

  1. Fill a bucket with water. Enough to completely soak your sawdust or pinecones. (Skip step 2 if you purchased your colorants in liquid form)
  2. Mix your colorant in until fully dissolved. If you are using sawdust, try adding some liquid glue. It will allow the sawdust to stick together.
  3. Add your pinecones or sawdust to the mixture. Create an even coat. Let the materials soak in the mixture overnight or for several hours.
  4. Set the pieces out to dry for several hours.
  5. Place on something safe. I suggest placing it on something you are going to throw out after the experiment.
  6. Light afire!

Note: Do not light it using a BBQ flame. While it will produce results, the chemicals you are using will taint the grill and cause your food to be toxic.

Note: Instead of water, you may also use alcohol for easy burning.

Flame Colorants
Lithium Chloride Carmine
Strontium Chloride Red
Calcium Chloride (Bleaching Powder) Orange
Sodium Chloride (Table Salt) Yellow
Borax Yellow/Green
Copper Sulfate (Hair Dye) Green
Copper Chloride Blue
3 parts Potassium Sulfate/1 part Potassium Nitrate Violet
Potassium Chloride Purple
Magnesium Sulfate (Epsom Salt) White

Why?
Coloring flame is done by dissolving salts (metal compounds such as sodium chloride) in a solvent which also acts as the fuel. When the fuel burns, it also causes the metal ions to emit on their characteristic wavelengths (just like the flame color tests in chemistry).
Tatjana
  • Authority 520
Post Body
Tatjana said:

Nice introduction, nice fotos, nice typing, nice (little :)) text – what a nice lesson, Adam!

  • Quote
  • Posted 8 months ago.
acrosstheuniverse
  • Authority 634
Post Body
acrosstheuniverse said:

cool!

  • Quote
  • Posted 5 months ago.
Smita
  • Authority 13
Post Body
Smita said:

cool

  • Quote
  • Posted 5 months ago.
hcraig
  • Authority 562
Post Body
hcraig said:

While i was camping this past week a girl had a package that, when tossed in the fire, produced a really neat green and blue flames. Has anyone ever seen these for sale?

  • Quote
  • Posted 4 months ago.
robert disuza
  • Authority 59
Post Body
robert disuza said:

It’s realy nice . when we read on school then i thought why the burning cole is colorful but today it clear

  • Quote
  • Posted 3 months ago.
Carsten
  • Authority 344
Post Body
Carsten said in response to:
hcraig
hcraig’s post:
Citation Body

While i was camping this past week a girl had a package that, when tossed in the fire, produced a really neat green and blue flames. Has anyone ever seen these for sale?

I’ve seen those too Heather, I saw them for sale at a general store up North last summer in with the fireworks.

  • Quote
  • Posted 2 months ago.
lucyinthesky
  • Authority 669
Post Body
lucyinthesky said in response to:
Carsten
Carsten’s post:
Citation Body

I’ve seen those too Heather, I saw them for sale at a general store up North last summer in with the fireworks.

I bought these at the general store when I went camping as well. They’re pretty cheap, and they last a while. I didn’t find them amazingly impressive – although they did last a while (I think about half an hour to an hour).

Another mystery I would like cleared up is how they make Mandle Candles? If anyone can explain that to me, I would be amazed! Although, I’m sure it’s some secret patent none of us will ever know about…

  • Quote
  • Posted 2 months ago.
chandra_avinash
  • Authority 518
Post Body
chandra_avinash said in response to:
lucyinthesky
lucyinthesky’s post:
Citation Body

I bought these at the general store when I went camping as well. They’re pretty cheap, and they last a while. I didn’t find them amazingly impressive – although they did last a while (I think about half an hour to an hour).

Another mystery I would like cleared up is how they make Mandle Candles? If anyone can explain that to me, I would be amazed! Although, I’m sure it’s some secret patent none of us will ever know about…

The candles look amazing! I have no clue how they work :(

  • Quote
  • Posted 2 months ago.
  • Your comment will be modifiable for 10 minutes after posted.

Page Author

Avatar
chandra_avinash
Name
chandra_avinash

From Here You Can…

Information

  • 1956 Views
  • 8 Comments
  • Ratings Likes 11 Negative 0

Most Recent Related Content

Published In…

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License.