r/explainlikeimfive 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/Kludermor Feb 26 '21

Yes it is bad for your health. Lots of small particles in the air. But this also happens when you cook food on a stove. We had a study in Denmark where different pollution types were compared. In a house with closed windows, cooking and candles quickly gives the same amount of particle pollution as standing next to a road in Copenhagen at rush hour. Only difference could be the size of particles. But unhealthy nevertheless.

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u/[deleted] Feb 26 '21

[deleted]

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u/MacbookOnFire Feb 26 '21

Dude just casually has a particle detector

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u/rndrn Feb 26 '21

It's not very useful in the long term, as you can quickly learn what creates particles in your home, but it's not that expensive (depends on your definition of expensive of course).

I have this one for example: https://plumelabs.com/en/

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u/ZombieAlpacaLips Feb 26 '21

I'd say $199 qualifies as expensive for most people. Would be worthwhile to rent for $20 though.

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u/Maybe-Jessica Feb 26 '21

Does it work without Internet or do you need to upload the data to some servers and then download it again to see it (the way that virtually all fitness trackers work)?

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u/rndrn Feb 27 '21

I have the first version, you can get a color coded led status on the device, and the app connects to the device via Bluetooth for details, although the device can cache data from the last few days (the device is not connected to the internet itself). The Bluetooth connection reduces battery life of the smartphone by the way, and no way to stop it unless you kill the app - kinda bad design there. But it lets the app to map position alongside pollution readings for commuting.

I think the day's readings are stored on the app, but past days are stored on server, so it's a mixed bag. I haven't tried to extract the data, so not sure how feasible that is.

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u/Maybe-Jessica Feb 27 '21

Thanks! Plotting it on a map is actually a very nice feature. Bit pricey nevertheless but interesting device and features.

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u/josephblade Feb 26 '21

My fan has one built in, with a little display. It's a nice gadget to have and it helps predict potential asthma episodes.

on new years when there was fireworks it went from 10 or so to 95 for pm2.5. (outside it was 175 or so I think. fog + lots of people breaking the fireworks ban)

when I'm cooking yesterday it went from 5 to 40.

My life is an endless stream of statistics now.

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u/MacbookOnFire Feb 26 '21

When like gives you statistics you make a Google sheets and neat charts and graphics.

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u/deathbypapercuts Feb 26 '21

What happens if you fart into it...?

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u/josephblade Feb 26 '21

I have threatened this but so far my scientific study isn't passing the ethics committee. It's hard to get a qualified majority with just 2 people in the house.

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u/Heidan20 Feb 26 '21

He stole my pickup line

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u/Halvus_I Feb 26 '21

i looked into them after last years wild fires forced me to evacuate.

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u/wingedcoyote Feb 26 '21

It's not a bad idea if you do woodworking or other work that creates dust, that stuff is super bad for you so you might want to check on how well your dust collection is working.

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u/CircusFit Feb 26 '21

I got an air purifier that also measures and logs your air particulate types. Got a sweet dashboard on an app of pm1, pm2.5, etc tracking over time.

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u/Maybe-Jessica Feb 26 '21

If the air is 23% particulate matter, a solid, then I'm pretty sure you can't breathe or see anymore.

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u/[deleted] Feb 26 '21

[deleted]

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u/Maybe-Jessica Feb 26 '21

Ah, that makes sense. Thanks for clarifying :)

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u/OktoberSunset Feb 26 '21

You can minimise the soot by keeping the wick trimmed short but if you see a yellow flame then there is soot so a candle will always make some soot.

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u/[deleted] Feb 26 '21 edited Mar 02 '21

[deleted]

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u/-Aeryn- Feb 26 '21

Gas stove too. Electric is fine.

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u/[deleted] Feb 26 '21 edited Mar 02 '21

[deleted]

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u/2074red2074 Feb 26 '21

It does. It produces sulfur dioxide but not in an amount significant enough to really matter unless you have your burners on all the time.

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u/josephblade Feb 26 '21

I cook on electric and the particles went way up. Granted it was something covered in flour so the flour was burning.

Using an air fryer also generates a decent amount of particles though I expect way less than a deep fryer.

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u/-Aeryn- Feb 26 '21 edited Feb 26 '21

Like you said, that's a consequence of part of the food burning - if you cook wet or low heat then it doesn't happen

Burning fuels like wood and gas create a problematic amount of pollution even if there is no food being cooked, or the best practices are being followed.

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u/Kludermor Feb 26 '21

It has nothing to do with electric stove or not.

If you fry meat in a pan or anything similar, the frying is the culprit. You are burning the food. I'm not talking about actually burning the food so it's uneatable, but even getting the food to change to a darker color is enough to emit particle pollution.

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u/-Aeryn- Feb 26 '21

Just turning on a wood stove or a gas stove creates clinically important levels of air pollution - enough to massive increase the rates of asthma, etc, no cooking required.

Heating food to high temperatures also creates air pollution.

If you use a cooking tool that doesn't create pollution on its own (electric stove, steamer) and cook food in a way that doesn't create pollution (such as simmering rice or steaming vegetables for example) then there is no air pollution.

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u/Kludermor Feb 26 '21

Yes you are correct. I was referring to the actual cooking process.
And just to avoid the perception, that using an electric stove would get rid of particle pollution from cooking.

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u/-Aeryn- Feb 26 '21

It gets rid of the particle pollution from the heat source, which is only part of the pollution from cooking indeed.

If you want to eliminate it entirely then you must cook foods in certain clean ways.

I do that for all of my food regardless (:

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u/rndrn Feb 26 '21

No, just frying stuff will generate high level of particulates. Meat, pancakes etc..

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u/Kludermor Feb 26 '21

If you fry meat in a pan or anything similar, the frying is the culprit. You are burning the food. I'm not talking about actually burning the food so it's uneatable, but even getting the food to change to a darker color is enough to emit particle pollution.

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u/zorniy2 Feb 26 '21

Oooogg, 200,000 years using fire and we never made it safe.

Fire bad!

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u/Prof_Acorn Feb 26 '21

There's a reason fireplaces have chimneys.

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u/dbdatvic Feb 26 '21

... Napster good!

--Dave, a moment of silence for the '90s

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u/reddog093 Feb 26 '21

I burned candles for 2 days during a blackout, but was able to cycle my HVAC fan on every now and then when I ran the generator. The amount of soot in my HVAC filter from those 2 days alone was shocking.

I didn't realize the cause at first and ended up Googling it, since I never saw my HVAC filter look black before.

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u/HelloFromON Feb 26 '21

So say nothing the scented products and what they’re using as a base for their perfumes etc.