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What is A Flame

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    Uhm, excuse me.
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    Pardon me.
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    No, no no. Not up there.
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    I'm down here.
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    Yup.
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    Hello!
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    I am a scientist,
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    and I've come to improve
    your situation just a bit.
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    See that fire over there?
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    Have you ever really wondered
    what the flames are, from that fire?
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    I mean look at all of those colors.
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    And you feel that heat. It's hot, right?
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    Well gee, it must be torture
    being around all these flames
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    and not knowing what they are.
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    Here, take a look at this cupcake.
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    You see a flame
    on top of this delicious looking cupcake?
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    You do like cupcakes, don't you?
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    Let's take a closer look, shall we?
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    Fantastic!
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    If we look at the flame
    on top of this cupcake,
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    we first notice a few things,
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    like all the colors.
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    At the bottom,
    we have this blueish color.
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    On the top,
    it's more yellow, orange and reddish.
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    Also, the flame is hot.
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    Why is it so flaming hot?
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    Well, to answer these questions,
    you need to know something very important.
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    You see, everything is made up
    of tiny things called atoms.
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    And these things are the building blocks
    that make up everything!
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    And they're really small.
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    Smaller.
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    Smaller!
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    Even smaller!
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    Hey, look, you can't even see them,
    they're so small.
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    Exactly!
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    Anything you can think of
    is made up of atoms.
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    Yup, this air conditioner
    is made up of atoms.
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    This delicious popsicle
    is made up of atoms.
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    This ice water is made up of atoms.
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    Everything is made up
    of billions and billions of atoms.
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    Now, this candle and flame are made up
    of three kinds of atoms:
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    carbon, hydrogen and oxygen.
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    The carbon
    and the hydrogen are locked together
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    to form the solid wax and wick.
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    The oxygen is a gas all around us.
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    Normally,
    the oxygen doesn't do much to the candle
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    It just bounces off of the surface,
    not doing any real damage.
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    But when we add heat,
    the oxygen atoms go bananas!
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    And they shake the wax, like crazy!
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    Until finally,
    with enough force, they snap apart.
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    They leave the candle as a gas,
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    where they mix with the oxygen.
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    Uh-oh, I smell trouble.
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    Well, the fancy science word
    for all of this is
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    pyrolysis.
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    It is the first thing
    that needs to happen to get a flame.
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    It's when the fuel turns to a gas.
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    Now, let's see what happens
    when these hot gasses combine.
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    (Announcer) Ladies and gentlemen,
    in this corner,
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    he was once a solid, now he's a gas!
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    He's the fuel from the West!
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    And in this corner,
    not one, but two groups of oxygen
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    Ready?
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    React!
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    Any time certain atoms get hit
    hard enough,
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    they spit out blue light.
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    And because there are lots of atoms
    getting hit hard
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    and lots of atoms spitting out blue light,
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    we get a blue flame.
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    Here comes another science word. Ready?
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    Chemiluminescence.
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    I know, it's a big one. One more time.
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    Chemiluminescence.
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    It's when atoms shine light
    when they rearrange.
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    It's why flames are blue.
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    Now, the blue light is not hot.
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    Wait!
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    But the blue flame is really hot!
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    So if the blue light is not the hot part,
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    then what does make a flame so hot?
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    Well, remember our fuel atoms,
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    and our oxygen atoms?
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    They rearranged
    to make new stuff,
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    like water and carbon dioxide.
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    And as they rearrange,
    they snap together.
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    And with each...
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    (snapping sound)
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    the new thing shakes like crazy!
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    So when the rearranging is done,
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    we have lots of new stuff,
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    all shaking really fast!
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    If we put something close
    to those raging atoms,
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    those atoms begin to shake
    like crazy, too,
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    like the atoms in our fingers,
    and that's heat.
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    This is called oxidation.
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    It's when the oxygen atoms combine
    with other atoms to make new stuff.
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    It's why flames are so hot.
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    All right then,
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    why are most flames
    yellow, orange and red?
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    Well, remember our first reaction?
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    We had one group of fuel atoms
    and two groups of oxygen.
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    They made a flame that was very hot
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    and only blue.
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    But watch what happens
    if there's not enough oxygen
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    and we take some away.
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    (Announcer) Ladies and gentlemen,
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    what happens
    when there's not enough oxygen?
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    (audience gasp)
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    What's this?
    A single carbon atom left all alone?
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    It's okay, because all of his left-over
    carbon friends come to join him,
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    and they form large, black particles
    we call soot.
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    Okay, they're not so large.
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    They're so small
    we can't even see them.
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    But to a single atom,
    they are enormous!
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    (Announcer) Enormous!
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    I know what you're thinking.
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    How do black particles make yellow flames?
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    Well, let me show you.
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    But first,
    I need something big and black,
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    like this pitch fork, for example.
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    Excuse me, Sir, Your Evilness,
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    could you please place your pitch fork
    in those scorching flames?
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    Thank you.
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    Big black objects are like sponges
    that soak up heat!
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    They have to get rid of this energy,
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    so they spit it out by glowing!
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    The hotter they get,
    the more brightly they glow!
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    Now, the same thing happens
    with our soot particles.
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    They drink in heat
    from all of those hot atoms.
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    And they glow brighter
    and brighter,
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    until they look like this!
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    And because there are millions
    and millions of soot particles,
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    all glowing hot,
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    we get this yellow flame.
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    This is called incandescence.
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    It's when the soot particles glow
    because they're hot.
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    It's the reason why flames are yellow.
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    Well, that's it. That's what flames are.
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    I mean, who knew
    cupcakes could be so much fun?
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    Remember, first, the fuel loses mass
    and turns into a gas.
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    Before the next change is through,
    atoms shine blue.
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    When the process is complete,
    it gives off heat.
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    Extra carbon will grow red,
    orange and yellow.
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    Hey, those are just like the lyrics
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    from that really awesome song
    about flames.
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    You know, the one that goes:
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    ♪ The fuel loses mass. ♪
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    ♪ It turns to gas. ♪
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    ♪ Before the next change is through, ♪
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    ♪ some atoms shine blue. ♪
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    ♪ When the process is complete, ♪
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    ♪ it gives off heat. ♪
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    ♪ Extra carbon will glow ♪
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    ♪ red, orange, yellow. ♪
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    ♪ The fuel loses mass. ♪
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    ♪ It turns to a gas. ♪
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    ♪ Before the next change is through, ♪
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    ♪ some atoms turn blue. ♪
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    ♪ When the process is complete, ♪
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    ♪ it gives off heat. ♪
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    ♪ Extra carbon will glow ♪
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    ♪ red, orange, yellow. ♪
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    (chorus repeats)
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    (vocal backing: Pyrolysis)
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    (Chemiluminescence)
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    (Oxidation)
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    (Incandescence)
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    (repeat)
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    (song finishes)
Title:
What is A Flame
Description:

Although this Flame Challenge entry was first submitted on Vimeo, this goes out to all the YouTube viewers out there. Thanks to Alan Alda and The Center for Communicating Science for creating such an educational and creative venue!
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Video Language:
English
Team:
Volunteer
Duration:
07:31
Febrina H. Ariendhita edited English subtitles for What is a Flame
gustavo.goretkin edited English subtitles for What is a Flame
2playerproductions edited English subtitles for What is a Flame
Giorgos Papalexiou edited English subtitles for What is a Flame
gustavo.goretkin added a translation

English subtitles

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