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The levitating Bunsen flame experiment

Article  in  Physics Education · September 2012

DOI: 10.1088/0031-9120/47/5/F02

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The levitating Bunsen flame experiment
2012 Phys. Educ. 47 515
(http://iopscience.iop.org/0031-9120/47/5/F02)

Are there any levitating flames? This is a fantastic physics experiment that I have been doing for the past eight years
to demonstrate conduction and convection. It also works brilliantly at our open evenings. It is a very old experiment,
although with the name ‘copper gauze and Bunsen flame’ it does not sound very attractive. Modern-day gauzes are
not made of copper so new teachers would not be able to find much if they search for ‘gauze and Bunsen flame’. I
call it the ‘levitating Bunsen flame’—the name has a much better ring to it and students love it.

It is based on the principles behind one of Sir Humphrey Davy’s great contributions: the miner’s safety lamp.
Searching on the internet, I found very little information about the experiment (the flame and gauze) at first,
although I found plenty on the history and science of the Davy lamp. However, once I found out the ‘old’ name of
the experiment, it was much easier to find information. Unfortunately, this experiment does not appear in more
recent science/ physics books at GCSE or A-level and it is not suggested by examination boards/specifications. I
found it mentioned in Tom Duncan’s Physics for Today and Tomorrow (1990) [1] and in Leonard De Vris’s The Book of
Experiments (1974) [2]. So it has been established that this is an old experiment that is present in old physics books.

Furthermore, a search of Physics Education did not give me any information. However, it is important to
acknowledge what is already out there. For example, in the Longman Effective Guide to O-Level Physics (2007) [3]
there is an exam question about it and experiment 77 in The Book Of Experiments also has a brief description of a
similar experiment. ‘Light the candle and hold the gauze in the centre of the flame. Seeing that the gauze soon gets
hot it is a good idea to hold it firmly with a clothes peg. You will notice that the flame does not burn above the
gauze. That happens because the gauze conducts the heat of the flame away, and so gases and particles rising above
the gauze no longer burn, unless […] you hold a lighted match there. Then the flame burns quite calmly on both sides
of the gauze. (If you can get a piece of copper gauze, so much the better.)’ The book is more than 30 years old and
unfortunately not many physics teachers have heard of it. However, the description is not quite the experiment I
want to describe here, where you want the flame to be on the top side of the gauze. So I wanted to share this
experiment in Physics Education and introduce it to teachers who may not have access to older books and have
never seen or heard of it.

Here is an extract from minerslamp.net [4], which describes the effect of how a flat gauze could act in the same way
as a tube. However, it does not mention how it is achieved. ‘Davy’s further experiments found that mesh-holes of
fine metallic gauze acted the same way as narrow tubes. […] The flame will burn on one side of the gauze without
igniting the gas on the underside of the gauze. This is because the gauze will dissipate heat fast enough that the
temperature of the gas beneath is unable to rise to the point of ignition.’

I also found the following description of a similar experiment on the Lateral Science website. ‘Experiment 84—light a
Bunsen flame, with the basal orifices open, and hold over it a fine wire gauze. Notice that the flame does not rise
above the gauze. Extinguish the light, and try to ignite the gas above the gauze, holding the latter within 5 or 6 cm of
the burner tube. Notice that it does not burn below the gauze.’ [5]

The Davy lamp is an amazing artefact that is still in use today. Interestingly, Davy never claimed to be the inventor of
the miners’ safety lamp. On 9 November 1815, when announcing to the Royal Society his discoveries on the nature
and properties of firedamp, he gave a description of Clanny’s lamp [6], which he had seen in use at a northern
colliery. He described it as an ingenious arrangement for burning a candle supplied with atmospheric air by a bellows
through water. The first Davy lamp was tried at Hebburn Colliery on 1 January 1816. Strictly speaking, the ‘Davy’ is
not a lamp but a scientific instrument for detecting the presence of firedamp. All present-day lamps embrace the
principles of the Clanny and the Davy [7, 8]. So the experiment described here is not new or a revolution in new
ideas of physics demonstrations. Nevertheless, there is a gap in recent textbooks and other sources, which do not
mention this experiment. If you are not already aware of it, here it is.
Bunsen burner: the basics

Figure 1. Bunsen burner. Figure 2. Ordinary lab metal gauze.

Most of us have used a Bunsen burner before. Despite its simple and elegant design, it fascinates pupils. The Bunsen
burner is ‘a burning or combustion reaction[, which] usually means a very fast exothermic reaction where a flame is
observed. It involves a highly energetic oxidation of “fuels” where the temperature generated is so high the atoms
give off light from the luminous flame
zone’ [8].

In the Bunsen burner the methane gas burns.

 methane + oxygen = carbon dioxide + water

 CH4(g) + 2O2(g) = CO2(g) + 2H2O(l)

 This is complete combustion with a pale blue

flame and the products cannot react any further
with oxygen.

 If the oxygen supply is limited the flame is

more yellow and can be ‘smoky’ due to soot
formation (C) and dangerous because carbon
monoxide (CO) can be formed.

During the experiment demonstration, a brief explanation about the Bunsen burner will help students to develop a
further understanding of the physics and chemistry behind this experiment.

Stage 1: the set-up

The experiment begins with a lit Bunsen burner on a yellow flame, following a change to a blue flame, discussing the
different temperatures at which it burns. A typical metal gauze is then shown to the students, followed by a
discussion about what the gauze is made of.
Stage 2: the drop
In the next step, the gauze is slowly lowered into the flame. Hold the gauze by one of the corners and lower the
opposite corner. As this begins, the blue flame immediately changes to orange, indicating a quick drop in the
temperature of the gas and the flame. The gauze continues to be lowered until it touches the Bunsen burner and the
flame eventually becomes blue again. The flame does not go out because the gas is not extinguished. The trick is to
do it slowly.

Figure 3. When the gauze is lowered the flame above the gauze cools down, becoming orange/yellow.

Figure 4. The flame immediately under the gauze also cools down.
Stage 3: the wait
You now have to wait around 30 s to 1 min. Discussion can continue, with the idea that the Bunsenburner flame is
increasing the temperature of the gauze. However, the gauze is a few millimetres thick, which implies a small
gradient in temperature. Furthermore, the part of the gauze that is touching the Bunsen burner will play an
important role in the next stage of the experiment.

Figure 5 The gauze is fully lowered and is touching the Bunsen burner. The flame becomes blue again and does not
extinguish.

Figure 6. The gauze touching the Bunsen burner and the blue flame above.
Stage 4: the lift
Now ask your students to lower their heads so that they are at eye level with the gauze and the Bunsen burner. To
amaze your students, the delivery of the experiment is just as important as the physics, so make sure that you slowly
lift the gauze. The gauze can be lifted by about 3–4 cm. To the students’ surprise, the Bunsen flame is only present
on top of the gauze. You can place your finger under the gauze and in the gas coming out of the Bunsen burner and I
will not burn your finger. The gas under the gauze has not ignited, meaning that it has a much lower temperature
than the flame on top of the gauze. Be careful not to touch the gauze or to completely block the flow of gas, which
would extinguish the flame on top of the gauze.

Figure 7. The gauze is lifted, bringing the flame along with it— students’ jaws drop with amazement.

Figure 8. A close-up of the lift is shown in figure 8.

The physics of the levitating flame

I keep the physics simple in the lesson, in order to link the experiment to thermal conduction and/ or convection.
The gradient in temperature in the gauze is enough to stop the ignition of the flame under the gauze. Thermal
energy transfer by conduction through the gauze causes this difference. When the gauze is lifted, the gas under it
has a lower temperature and so does not ignite. The part below the gauze is also starved of oxygen when placed
completely on the Bunsen burner, which aids the process. As the gas travels through the gauze at high speed, it
‘absorbs’ some of the thermal energy in the gauze, increasing its temperature and keeping the flame alight above,
but not below. There is, however, a height limit. Eventually, the flame will extinguish if you lift it too high. For those
seeking further excitement, a ‘flame sandwich’ is also possible with ‘no flame—flame— no flame’ using two gauzes.

Enjoy the fun.

Acknowledgements

All Bunsen-burner photos were taken by Will Howe at Howe Photography Works.
Thanks to the referee of this paper for their collaboration on this variation.

References
[1] Duncan T 1990 Physics for Today and Tomorrow 2nd ed (London: Hodder Murray)
[2] De Vris L 1974 The Book of Experiments (London: John Murray) http://arvindguptatoys.com/arvindgupta/
bookofexpts.pdf
[3] Yong P L 2007 Longman Effective Guide to O-Level Physics (London: Longman)
[4] Pohs H 1995 The Miner’s Flame Light Book Flame Publishing Company
[5] Lateral Science http://lateralscience.co.uk/1888chem/experiments.html
[6] The first person to demonstrate that a steady light could be employed in coal mines without the danger of
external explosion was Dr William Reid Clanny of Sunderland. On 20 May 1813 he announced his discovery at a
meeting at the Royal Society of Arts in London, when he presented the Society with the first miners’ ‘safety lamp’

[7] http://welshminerslamps.com/info_lamp_history.shtml
[8] George Stevenson also contributed to the development of the Davy lamp
[8] Doc Brown http://docbrown.info/

Roussel De Carvalho, head of physics, Samuel Ward Academy, Suffolk, UK

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