I’m burning my candle tonight by WoodWick (their HearthWick flame, the big, long wick)
I usually burn these for an hour or two per burn.
I’ve noticed that sometimes the flame will be rather intense at times before dying down to a normal less intense level.
Sometimes the flame burns intensely for a long time, and then finally starts to dial back. Sometimes the flame becomes really weak and then starts to grow in intensity again.
Before each burn, the wick is always trimmed with my fingers to remove most of the burnt part.
Just curious what causes such variation of the flame.
In: Chemistry
Remember the fire triangle: oxygen, fuel, and heat.
If it gets more oxygen, it’ll burn faster – for example, if you blow on it, or if it’s in a draft.
If more fuel is exposed, it’ll burn faster – that can happen quite randomly, as it burns down the wax, depending on tiny impurities.
And… candles burn faster when it’s hot.
Many of these factors are feedback loops. If it’s windy, and it starts to burn faster, it exposes more of the fuel, and it makes its own surroundings hotter, and so forth. Hence, fire is dangerous.
TL;DR: Candles aren’t very standardized. They have differing contents and structures, so some burn faster than others.
[[Link to more info](https://byjus.com/chemistry/candle-flame/)]
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