What is A Flame
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0:04 - 0:06Uhm.
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0:06 - 0:07Excuse me.
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0:07 - 0:09Pardon me.
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0:09 - 0:12No, no no. Not up there.
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0:12 - 0:13I'm down here.
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0:13 - 0:15Yup.
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0:15 - 0:17Hello!
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0:17 - 0:22I am a scientist. And I've come to improve your situation just a bit.
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0:22 - 0:26See that fire over there?
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0:26 - 0:31Have you ever really wondered what the flames are from that fire? I mean look at all of those colors.
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0:31 - 0:34And you feel that heat. It's hot, right?
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0:34 - 0:38Well gee, it must be torture being around all these flames and not knowing what they are.
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0:38 - 0:40Here, take a look at this cupcake.
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0:40 - 0:43You see a flame on top of this delicious looking cupcake?
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0:43 - 0:45You do like cupcakes, don't you?
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0:45 - 0:47Let's take a closer look, shall we?
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0:47 - 0:49Fantastic!
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0:49 - 0:55If we look at the flame on top of this cupcake, we first notice a few things, like all the colors
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0:55 - 0:59At the bottom, we have this blue-ish color.
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0:59 - 1:01On the top, it's more yellow, orange, redish.
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1:01 - 1:03Also the flame is hot.
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1:03 - 1:05Why is it so flaming hot?
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1:05 - 1:09Well, to answer these questions, you need to know something very important.
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1:09 - 1:11You see everything is made up of tiny things
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1:11 - 1:14called atoms. And these things are the building
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1:14 - 1:16blocks that make up everything!
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1:16 - 1:18And they're really small.
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1:18 - 1:19Smaller.
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1:19 - 1:21Smaller!
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1:21 - 1:22Even smaller!
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1:22 - 1:24Hey, look, you can't even see
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1:24 - 1:26them, they're so small.
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1:26 - 1:27Exactly!
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1:27 - 1:30Anything you can think of is made up of atoms.
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1:30 - 1:34Yup, this air condition is made up of atoms.
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1:34 - 1:37This delicious popsicle is made up of atoms.
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1:37 - 1:40This ice water is made up of atoms.
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1:40 - 1:43Everything is made up of billions and billions of atoms.
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1:43 - 1:47Now, this candle and flame are made up of three kinds of atoms
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1:47 - 1:50carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen.
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1:50 - 1:53The carbon and the hydrogen are locked together
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1:53 - 1:55to form the solid wax and wick.
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1:55 - 1:58The oxygen is a gas all around us.
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1:58 - 2:02Normally, the oxygen doesn't do much to the candle
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2:02 - 2:06It just bounces off of the surface, not doing any real damage.
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2:06 - 2:08But when we add heat, the oxygen
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2:08 - 2:09atoms go bananas!
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2:09 - 2:12And they shake the wax, like crazy!
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2:12 - 2:14Until finally, with enough force, they snap apart.
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2:14 - 2:18They leave the candle as a gas.
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2:18 - 2:20where they mix with the oxygen.
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2:20 - 2:22Uh oh, I smell trouble.
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2:22 - 2:26Well the fancy science word for all of this is
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2:26 - 2:27pyrolysis.
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2:27 - 2:30It is the first thing that needs to happen to get a flame.
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2:30 - 2:33It's when the fuel turns to a gas.
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2:34 - 2:37Now let's see what happens when these hot gasses combine.
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2:37 - 2:39Announcer: Ladies and gentlemen, in this corner
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2:39 - 2:44he was once a solid, now he's a gas. He's the fuel from the West!
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2:44 - 2:49And in this corner, not one, but two groups of oxygen
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2:49 - 2:49Ready?
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2:49 - 2:52React!
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2:52 - 2:56Narrator: Any time certain atoms get hit hard enough,
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2:56 - 2:58they spit out blue light.
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2:58 - 3:01And because there are lots of atoms getting hit hard
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3:01 - 3:03and lots of atoms spitting out blue light
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3:03 - 3:07we get a blue flame.
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3:07 - 3:09Here comes another science word. Ready?
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3:09 - 3:11Chemiluminescence.
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3:11 - 3:13I know, it's a big one.
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3:13 - 3:14One more time.
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3:14 - 3:15Chemiluminescence.
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3:15 - 3:16It's when atoms shine light
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3:16 - 3:18when they rearrange.
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3:18 - 3:19It's why flames are blue
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3:19 - 3:22Now the blue light is not hot.
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3:22 - 3:23Wait!
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3:23 - 3:26But the blue flame is really hot!
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3:26 - 3:29So if the blue light is not the hot part,
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3:29 - 3:31then what does make a flame so hot?
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3:31 - 3:34Well, remember our fuel atom?
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3:34 - 3:35and our oxygen atoms?
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3:35 - 3:38They rearranged to make new stuff like water
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3:38 - 3:40and carbon dioxide.
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3:40 - 3:41And as they rearrange, they snap together.
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3:41 - 3:43And with each
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3:43 - 3:44snap
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3:44 - 3:47the new thing shakes like crazy!
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3:47 - 3:49So when the rearranging is done, we have
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3:49 - 3:51lots of new stuff
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3:51 - 3:52all shaking really fast!
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3:52 - 3:54If we put something close to those raging atoms
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3:54 - 3:58then those atoms begin shaking like crazy too,
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3:58 - 4:00like the atoms in our fingers -- that's heat.
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4:00 - 4:04This is called oxidation.
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4:04 - 4:08It's when the oxygen atoms combine with other atoms to make new stuff.
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4:08 - 4:10It's why flames are so hot.
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4:10 - 4:12Alright then, why are most flames
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4:12 - 4:14yellow, orange, red?
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4:14 - 4:16Well, remember our first reaction?
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4:16 - 4:20We had one group of fuel atoms and two groups of oxygen.
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4:20 - 4:22They made a flame that was very hot.
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4:22 - 4:24And only blue.
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4:24 - 4:26But watch what happens if there's not enough oxygen
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4:26 - 4:28and we take some away.
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4:28 - 4:30Announcer: Ladies and gentlemen what happens when there's
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4:30 - 4:33not enough oxygen?
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4:33 - 4:34*audience gasp*
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4:34 - 4:38Announcer: what's this? A single carbon atom left all alone!
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4:38 - 4:40Narrator: It's okay, because all of his left-over carbon
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4:40 - 4:41friends come to join him
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4:41 - 4:45and they form large, black particles we call soot.
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4:45 - 4:46Okay, they're not so large. They're so small
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4:46 - 4:48we can't even see them.
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4:48 - 4:50But to a single atom, they are enormouse!
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4:50 - 4:53Announcer: Enormous!
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4:53 - 4:54Narrator: I know what you're thinking.
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4:54 - 4:57How do black particles make yellow flames?
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4:57 - 4:59Well let me show you.
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4:59 - 5:01But first, I need something big and black
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5:01 - 5:03like this pitch fork.
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5:03 - 5:04Excuse me sir, Your Evilness,
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5:04 - 5:07could you please place your pitch fork in
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5:07 - 5:08those scorching flames? Thank you.
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5:08 - 5:12Big black objects are like sponges that soak up heat.
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5:12 - 5:14They have to get rid of this energy, so they spit it out
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5:14 - 5:15by glowing.
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5:15 - 5:18The hotter they get, the more brightly they glow.
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5:18 - 5:21Now the same thing happens with our soot particles.
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5:21 - 5:24They drink in heat from all those hot atoms.
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5:24 - 5:25And they glow brighter and brighter!
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5:25 - 5:28Until they look like this!
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5:28 - 5:32And because there are millions and millions of soot particles
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5:32 - 5:33all glowing hot
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5:33 - 5:35we get this yellow flame.
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5:35 - 5:36Audience: ooh!
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5:36 - 5:37This is called incandescence.
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5:37 - 5:39It's when the soot particles glow because they're hot.
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5:39 - 5:42it's the reason why flames are yellow.
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5:42 - 5:44Well, that's it. That's what flames are.
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5:44 - 5:47I mean, who knew cupcakes could be so much fun.
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5:47 - 5:49Remember, first the fuel loses mass and turns into a gas.
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5:49 - 5:53Before the next change is through, atoms shine blue.
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5:53 - 5:56When the process is complete, it gives off heat.
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5:56 - 5:59Extra carbon will grow red, orange, and yellow.
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5:59 - 6:02Hey, those are just like the lyrics from that
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6:02 - 6:05really awesome song about flames.
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6:05 - 6:07You know, the one that goes:
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6:07 - 6:09The fuel loses mass
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6:09 - 6:10it turns to gas.
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6:10 - 6:12Before the next change is through
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6:12 - 6:15some atoms shine blue.
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6:15 - 6:16When the process is complete
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6:16 - 6:19it gives off heat.
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6:19 - 6:20Extra carbon will glow
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6:20 - 6:22red, orange, yellow.
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6:22 - 6:24The fuel loses mass
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6:24 - 6:26it turns to a gas
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6:26 - 6:28Before the next change is through
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6:28 - 6:30some atoms turn blue.
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6:30 - 6:31When the process is complete
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6:31 - 6:35it gives off heat.
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6:35 - 6:36Extra carbon will glow
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6:36 - 6:38red, orange, yellow.
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6:38 - 6:40*chorus repeats*
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6:40 - 6:44vocal backing: Pyrolysis
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6:44 - 6:48Chemiluminescence
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6:48 - 6:51Oxidation
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6:51 - 6:55Incandescence
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6:55 - 7:15repeat
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7:15 - 7:19*song finishes*
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7:19 -*credits song*
- Title:
- What is A Flame
- Description:
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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!
- 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 |