Burning, Fluttering, and Extinguishing of a Candle Flame in a Tube

Abstract

In this article, we report some experimental results on the behaviour of the flame of a candle kept at the bottom of a glass tube, which is open at the top and closed at the bottom. Thus, the supply of oxygen for the continuous burning of the flame is possible only from the top open end of the tube. We find that the candle burns steadily below a critical tube height. Above this height, the flame oscillates in size, and a further increase in tube height leads to the flame extinguishing quickly.