If you light a candel in zero gravity, what way will the flame burn?

Answer 1

The same way. The flame's shape has nothing to do with gravity. It's about heat rising. No difference.

Answer 2

Table 1. The answers given to the question "What happens to a candle?" and their percentages

ANSWER REASON High School (%) College (%) Total (%)
Spherical form 1.1--Due to lack of gravity, warmed air will not rise 4 32 15
1.2--Due to lack of air pressure inside, flame does not rise 0 4 2
1.3--No reason 3 12 7
Flames spread around 1.4--If there is no gravity, there would be no force to hold the flame together 13 2 9
1.5--Because the concentration of oxygen gas differs alongside the room 0 2 1
1.6--Like all other objects in space, flames also travel randomly 1 0 1
1.7--No reason
20 12 16
Doesn't change 1.8--The important factor is oxygen, which already exists in the medium 6 4 5
1.9--Burning of the candle does not depend on gravity 3 2 3
1.10--No matter which direction the candle is rotated, the flame remains upwards 0 2 1
1.11--Electromagnetic wave is what makes the flames. 0 2 1
1.12--No reason 17 8 12
Downward 1.13--Because buoyant force acting on the flame is eliminated 9 4 7
Rises more 1.14--Because the vertical downward
force no longer exists 7 10 8
No flame 1.15--The candle does not burn 6 0 4
No answer 11 4 8

Answer 3

it would burn as a slightly less bright sphere.

In Gravity:
the normal flame shape is caused as the hot gases & less dense from the combustion rise as the cold & dense surrounding gases push them up. this is called convection

this is why smoke rises. Also the convection causes fresh oxygen to be delivered to the flame and the cycle continues.

in Zero Gravity:
there is no convection as there is no gravity force to move the different density gases about, so the flame is a sphere.

The flame will burn (but dimly) as the main way that oxygen is transported to the flame (convection) has been stopped. However oxygen will still (slowly) get to to the flame by the random Brownian motion which will ensure that all gases (o2, n2, co2) eventually get to the same concentration in a room.

Brownian motion is what make farts spread around a room!

Answer 4

In a vacuum it can not burn (no oxygen to assist combustiuon). yet in 0-g a hearth has no 'convection' to hold combustion by-products and introduce sparkling oxygen. i've got considered video clips of a hearth intentionally began in the holiday and that's in basic terms a small sphere of flame that lasts a pair of seconds and is going out. The physics all makes ideal experience, besides the undeniable fact that that's nonetheless kinda weird and wonderful to honestly watch it take place ? Doug

Answer 5

Trick question. The flame will burn along the axis of the wick. Gravitational pull has no bearing on the chemical reaction taking place.

By the way, just because it's zero-g, doesn't mean no oxygen. Astronauts in the space shuttle live in a zero-g environment and breathe the air (although it is a man-made environment)

Answer 6

The flame will burn in a perfect sphere centered on the wick, with the tip of the wick in the very center of the sphere.

Answer 7

I don't know because I've never been into zero gravity. good question my head hurts from thinking too much though.

Answer 8

it'll just be a globe of fire, I suppose...like the sun, but waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay smaller

note: I found a picture of it - the flame is indeed global and more blue

look at a candle flame in normal gravity and a candle flame in microgravity

Answer 9

It will go with the direction of any air current around it.

Answer 10

It wont burn because you need oxygen to burn and oxygen is matter and matter has gravity so it cant burn