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II.—On the Constitution of Flame

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 January 2013

Extract

If we examine the flame arising from the combustion of any of the hydrocarbons, such as that of coal-gas, or of a common candle, it will be found to consist of several portions easily distinguishable by the eye, and in which the matter composing the flame exists in very different conditions. There is, first, a central non-luminous region, in which the gases are not yet ignited; secondly, a blue conoidal envelope, extending from the wick or burner, and gradually thinning out towards the top of the flame; thirdly, a more or less luminous conoid, thin towards the bottom of the flame, where it is enveloped by the blue conoid, but thicker towards the top. And fourthly, a faintly luminous outer envelope, completely surrounding the other portions of the flame, and greatly developed towards the top.

Type
Transactions
Copyright
Copyright © Royal Society of Edinburgh 1861

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References

page 22 note * Philosophical Magazine, vol. xxxii., p. 103.

page 22 note † Ibid., vol. xxxii., p. 104–105.

page 23 note * Ibid., pp. 101–2.

page 24 note * Ibid., pp. 106–7.

page 26 note * It may be proper, in order to explain the different values for the same line of the spectrum in the different sets of observations, to remark that these were made on different days, and on flames of different dimensions.

page 27 note * This flame might be used for household purposes, and probably also with advantage in experiments where an invariable source of light is wanted. The liquids, although both smell disagreeably, emit no perceptible odour in burning.

page 27 note † Each number in this and the following table is a single micrometer reading.

page 27 note ‡ The observations in this and the following table, on the various lines of the spectrum, were made in the order of the numbers I., II..... VI., in order to eliminate the effect of any gradual change in the dimensions of the flame.

page 28 note * These dimensions were derived from the numbers in the preceding tables by multiplying by 0.0016, the value of a micrometer division in inches; and that was ascertained by observing an accurate inch ivory scale placed in contact with the slit through which the flame was viewed.

page 30 note * Edinburgh Transactions, vol. xxi., p. 71.

page 31 note * Philosophical Magazine, vol. xxx., p. 349.