Like in the movies when they explore a cave or a pyramid and they have that handheld fire torch. How we’re those able to stay lit for so long?
In: 17
They usually didnt exist like that its largely movie myth.. well they did last an hour or two at best.. they were also like 1-2kg in weight and quite top heavy… so getting a torch to last a movies playtime is doable…but wasn’t really a thing across history.
Usually stuff like torches were covered in rags and said rags would have something like pitch or fat as a fuel. It’s effectively a candle made from fat… except you don’t have a wick but instead a wrapped bandage with fat.
Stuff like tiki torches have a little reservoirs and a wick to pull up more fuel.
Most people in ancient times used oil lamps for the most part…which is why those last longer. Take a dinner plate. A wick. Light it. Raise the flame up away from it. Now you have a burning wick which keeps pulling more oil… Basically a simple oil lamp common in the middle east for instance. The typical stereotypical genie lamps are effectively the same but elegant.
They don’t. The movies are just movies. It would be inconvenient if they hero had to stop the whole time to add oil or fuel to the torch, or if a more primitive torch collect some twigs and wood and spend another 10 minutes tying it all together. Movies are not a source information.
Source: I do hiking/outdoors/survival stuff.
So as others have said movie magic, in the real world they last 15-20 minutes ,but also you don’t want to use those in doors. They are made with some sort of hydrocarbon normally tar, and will burn with a lot of thick smoke. If you are in a confined space you will rapidly be over come from the smoke.
In reality for non electrical light you would go with a candle in a box open on the top and front. Preferably with the insides being reflective. E.g. made out of polished metal.
Also worth reinforcing here: torches, oil lights, etc were very much a luxury. Small fires and such were probably pretty widespread, but light was very much a luxury.
Most people would have simply slept or relaxed in the dark when the sun was down. Maybe gathered around a fire in the evenings.
This data’s kind of interesting https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/the-price-for-lighting-per-million-lumen-hours-in-the-uk-in-british-pound
Real torches don’t burn forever, movie torches are just props and are as realistic as the mummies, vampires, and other imaginary parts of movies. That said, torches aren’t just sticks. They generally had a coating or container of a slow-to-burn oil or wax, which made them burn more like a candle than a log. That said, a real torch with a huge flame would burn quite quickly, in order to make a long burning torch it would need to have a smaller, less hungry flame.
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