Why does a candle make no smoke when it is lit but makes a lot of smoke when you blow it out?
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At the scientific level, a fire is a chemical reaction where some molecules (usually carbon based) are reacting with oxygen to produce energy.
The hotter the fire is, the better it reacts with the oxygen.
With really hot fires, oxygen reacts with the carbon and creates mostly carbon dioxide or CO2
When the fire gets cooler, it creates less CO2 and it creates more carbon monoxide or CO
When it gets even cooler, carbon by itself starts getting released. The carbon is a solid, not a gas, so you can see it.
When the candle is burning brightly, it’s creating mostly just CO2 and CO. When you blow it out, it keeps burning for a bit, but now it isn’t hot enough to produce the gasses, just mostly carbon.
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