In a petrochemical industry seminar, a guy told about invisible fire (only heat can be felt) he said it’s very dangerous and has a lot of potential for burning. What chemic causes invisible fire? if fire is defined as the chemical reaction that produces heat and light, how is it invisible?
In: Chemistry
The yellow flam you see in fires is mostly sot that is heated until it glows. Other chemicals glow at different colours when heated. For example neon glows bright red which was used in various signs in the past. Some chemicals glows very dimly in the visual spectrum, for example water and carbon dioxide. Water might give out a faint blue light but not as bright as sot does. Carbon dioxide can similarly glow a bit orange but again it is faint. Therefore if you have enough air to a flame and mix it well then it will not form sot and you get a faint flame. This is how you adjust a torch or burner, you increase the amount of air until the flame becomes invisible. Or if you burn a very light fuel like alcohol you do not get any sot and therefore no bright yellow flame. You might see the faint flame in low light conditions but not in daylight.
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