Quotation from: General Science

Written by: Bertha M. Clark


142. The Candle. Candles were originally made by dipping a wick into
melting tallow, withdrawing it, allowing the adhered tallow to harden,
and repeating the dipping until a satisfactory thickness was obtained.
The more modern method consists in pouring a fatty preparation into a
mold, at the center of which a wick has been placed.


The wick, when lighted, burns for a brief interval with a faint,
uncertain light; almost immediately, however, the intensity of the
light increases and the illumination remains good as long as the
candle lasts. The heat of the burning tallow melts more of the tallow
near it, and this liquid fat is quickly sucked up into the burning
wick. The heat of the flame is sufficient to change most of this
liquid into a gas, that is, to vaporize the liquid, and furthermore to
set fire to the gas thus formed. These heated gases burn with a bright
yellow flame.

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