Name: 🔬#MESExperiments 46: Candle Flame Causes Water to Rise
Uploaded: 2025-02-18T05:01:51+00:00
Duration: 1 min
Description: In #MESExperiments 46 I demonstrate the famous burning candle - rising water experiment, which shows how an enclosed flame can cause the pressure to drop, thus forcing water to rise upwards. The mains

7 months ago

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Health & Science Education science physics aether education mes experiments chemistry hydrodynamics anti-gravity science experiments

In #MESExperiments 46 I demonstrate the famous burning candle - rising water experiment, which shows how an enclosed flame can cause the pressure to drop, thus forcing water to rise upwards. The mainstream science explanation is as follows:

- The flame results from a combustion reaction between the candle wax and oxygen in the air: 2 O_2 + CH_4 = CO_2 + 2 H_2O
- Twice as much oxygen is burned than carbon dioxide is released, causing a decrease in air volume BUT this is temporarily countered by the increase in temperature, thus the water level stays constant.
- As the oxygen is depleted, the flame goes out causing a temperature drop, thus the volume and pressure drop suddenly as well.
- The higher atmospheric pressure outside the cylinder causes the water to rise inside the lower pressure cylinder.

Links original video and more info:

- Unedited original video: https://youtu.be/zLxbd92zC7U
- Bell jar wiki: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bell_jar
- The burning candle rising water experiment: https://people.math.harvard.edu/~knill/pedagogy/waterexperiment/
- Inspiration for video: https://youtu.be/w6Bes6_57ag?t=162
- Combustion: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Combustion
- Candle flame combustion involves paraffin wax reacting with oxygen in the air, after first reaching the chemical reaction activation energy via the lighter: https://x.com/i/grok/share/A4sAXWSRvKka9DiXOsQgFCNok

Timestamps:

- Placing candle on the plate and pouring a cup of water: 0:00
- Lighting the candle with a lighter: 0:05
- Placing the graduated cylinder over the candle: 0:13
- Air bubble is pushed out (not always the case) and the flame goes out and water starts to rise: 0:25
- Entire candle is lifted upwards in water: 0:35
- Removing the cylinder with a small plate to avoid it spilling: 0:42

Stay tuned for #MESExperiments 47...

Experiment screenshots and playlists:

- Screenshots: SOON
- Playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLai3U8-WIK0HUHoank-Lj9q6RGAS51QRh
- Hive playlist: https://peakd.com/mesexperiments/@mes/list
- DRAFT experiments: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLai3U8-WIK0FfZ_7hUuyO7xN8lp5oaDiu