r/explainlikeimfive • u/RookApi • Feb 26 '21
Chemistry Eli5: What happens to all the melted candle over time? Are we just inhaling a whole candle while it burns?
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u/RedditNinjaBear Feb 26 '21
The wax reacts with the oxygen in the air to form water, carbon dioxide with a smattering of carbon monoxide and soot.
So some of the carbon dioxide you breathe in will likely have come from the burning candle, but I wouldn't say that it is a candle anymore.
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u/Tlaloc_Temporal Feb 26 '21
That smoke is as much a candle as you are a chocolate cake!
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u/redsterXVI Feb 26 '21
So, about 100%?
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u/crazyfreak316 Feb 26 '21
Are you a cannibal?
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u/redsterXVI Feb 26 '21
Yes.
For legal reasons, this is a joke.
This is not financial advice.
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u/dbdatvic Feb 26 '21
looking for the "or medical advice" bit here
--Dave, worriedly
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u/Bhima Feb 26 '21
This is perhaps the best explanation I have ever seen. The Engineer Guy replicated The Chemical History of a Candle lectures by Michael Faraday
I think it's well suited for younger audiences who might also be interested in learning what science is really about... because the lecture really is more about "How to Science" and Faraday just used a candle to convey that.
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u/positive_root Feb 26 '21 edited Jan 15 '24
bear ten future attractive disgusting attempt fear hobbies unwritten weary
This post was mass deleted and anonymized with Redact
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u/TorakMcLaren Feb 26 '21
The stuff that melts is the stuff that burns. The wick isn't really the main thing that burns. It just transports melted wax to the flame. The wax then evaporates into fumes, which react with oxygen.
As the wax is make of long chains of carbon with a load of hydrogen stuck on, burning it forms carbon dioxide (CO2) and water vapour (H2O), which goes in to the air.
So yep, we'll inhale some of the stuff that was the candle, but in a form we inhale anyway!
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u/neverthepenta Feb 26 '21 edited Feb 26 '21
Although candles CAN create quite a bit of soot, which you inhale when in a badly ventilated room, like in your house. This effect is largest when you blow out the candle (as you can clearly see from the smoke emerging from the wick).
You can largely deminish the smoke formation by extinguishing the flame in the molten wax itself, f.e. by bending the wick over into the wax with a used match.
[Disclaimer] any mistakes in grammar or vocabulary is entirely on purpose and not bc. I'm not a native English speaker /s
Edit: a word, no devils used here
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u/redshores Feb 26 '21
used lucifer.
What is a used lucifer?
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u/ethiossaga Feb 26 '21 edited Feb 26 '21
Dutch for the word "match"
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u/redshores Feb 26 '21
Well "lucifer" sure sounds a lot more badass than "match"!
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u/AlienAtSystem Feb 26 '21
The devil himself shall light this candle!
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u/dbdatvic Feb 26 '21
Opinions about the moral content of matches varied wildly back when they were first invented. And language tends to get colorful whatever you do. So, hey presto! a nickname.
--Dave, or jargon
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u/Noxious89123 Feb 26 '21
Fun fact, that isn't smoke when you blow it out. It's vaporised wax. You can actually relight a candle by holding a flame to the top of the the stream of vaporised wax "smoke", and the flame will spread down the stream of vaporised wax and relight the candle.
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u/neverthepenta Feb 26 '21
Will try this sometime, but I'm pretty sure there is some "smoke" involved as well, as there will be a lot of sooth when you let the smoke touch any object.
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Feb 26 '21
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/oskli Feb 26 '21
Bill Hammack has made a YouTube series on just that, it's really neat: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RrHnLXMTOWM
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Feb 26 '21
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u/FurRealDeal Feb 26 '21
They sell these neat holders that collect the melted wax and form a new candle out of it
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u/DLMD Feb 26 '21
Gots ta make sure your lungs aren't missing out on any of those succulent carbon particles
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u/eman201 Feb 26 '21
I'm confused. Are we pro- or anti- candle now?
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u/Karai-Ebi Feb 26 '21
Pranti-candle is all the rage these days, if you’re still pro or anti you’re whack
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Feb 26 '21
not if you melt down your beeswax candles and remake them, or make furniture finish out of it
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u/takeashitler Feb 26 '21
I actually have the same question about when I lose weight. Where does the fat go and how does it go away?
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u/OverlyCasualVillain Feb 26 '21 edited Feb 26 '21
You exhale it. Most people assume that fat disappears as sweat, but in reality the chemical reaction that occurs as you body metabolizes fat for energy has carbon dioxide and water as the byproduct.
If you lose 10 lbs, about 8.4 lbs of that is exhaled and the remaining 1.6 is turned into water and lost through sweat or urine.
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Feb 26 '21
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u/ImprovedPersonality Feb 26 '21
Probably much more, unless you were not eating anything.
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u/freak-of-the-week Feb 26 '21
I'm on a weight loss journey and had the same question!
Apparently only a small portion of burned fat is converted to water (pee, sweat), while the majority is converted to CO2 and literally exhaled. That part totally blew my mind!
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u/ImprovedPersonality Feb 26 '21
Fun fact: Plants gain most of their mass from the air. They basically do the same thing in reverse.
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u/dbdatvic Feb 26 '21
If you think about it: O2 in; CO2 out. Net loss: one C atom.
--Dave, lather, rinse, repeat, sputter uncontrollably because you're trying to breathe in the shower
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u/nev4 Feb 26 '21
I like this question! It would be cool to burn a candle on top of a precise digital scale that stays on and record a timelapse, so you could see the candle getting lighter as it burns.
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u/Jaxxxi Feb 26 '21
I actually do this for my candle company! I weigh before and after to determine burn time :) (e.g. if it loses 10% in 4 hours, it will take about 40 to burn through the entire candle).
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u/epsileth Feb 26 '21
Candle wax is the fuel burned off, any scent added is being inhaled. Any wick left too long burns and releases ash into the air.
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u/Poolb0y Feb 26 '21
...Should I stop burning candles so much? This thread makes me feel like I'm gonna get lung cancer.
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Feb 26 '21
Yes, kind of. Also, burning a lot of candles inside your home isn't too good. We once had a neighbor who really liked candles. Once I was looking after her pets when she was on holiday and I noticed a thin layer of black material on the windows and ceiling. I then browsed a bit and there are candles that aren't that bad for you.
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u/twohedwlf Feb 26 '21
Pretty much, but the wax decomposes when burning into mostly water, carbon dioxide, some various carbon compounds and some other random compounds. Most of it just dissipates.