The Chemical History of a Candle

As you know, you can watch the glow of a burning candle forever. But what physical phenomena and natural laws lie behind the beauty of that trembling little tongue of blue-gold flame?

A course of lectures on the nature of fire and related processes, delivered by Michael Faraday as part of an educational program for young people at the London Royal Institution, was recorded by one of his students—William Crookes (later a famous physicist and chemist). Based on the notes published even during Faraday’s lifetime, these lectures were later issued as a separate book with illustrations and Crookes’s commentary.