In #MESExperiments 46 I demonstrate the famous burning candle - rising water experiment, which shows how an enclosed flame can cause the pressure to drop, thus forcing water to rise upwards. The mainstream science explanation is as follows:

• The flame results from a combustion reaction between the candle wax and oxygen in the air: 2 O_2 + CH_4 = CO_2 + 2 H_2O
• Twice as much oxygen is burned than carbon dioxide is released, causing a decrease in air volume BUT this is temporarily countered by the increase in temperature, thus the water level stays constant.
• As the oxygen is depleted, the flame goes out causing a temperature drop, thus the volume and pressure drop suddenly as well.
• The higher atmospheric pressure outside the cylinder causes the water to rise inside the lower pressure cylinder.

Links original video and more info

• Unedited original video:
• Bell jar wiki: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bell_jar
• The burning candle rising water experiment: https://people.math.harvard.edu/~knill/pedagogy/waterexperiment/
• Inspiration for video:
• Combustion: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Combustion
• Candle flame combustion involves paraffin wax reacting with oxygen in the air, after first reaching the chemical reaction activation energy via the lighter: https://x.com/i/grok/share/A4sAXWSRvKka9DiXOsQgFCNok

Timestamps

• Placing candle on the plate and pouring a cup of water: 0:00
• Lighting the candle with a lighter: 0:05
• Placing the graduated cylinder over the candle: 0:13
• Air bubble is pushed out (not always the case) and the flame goes out and water starts to rise: 0:25
• Entire candle is lifted upwards in water: 0:35
• Removing the cylinder with a small plate to avoid it spilling: 0:42

Stay tuned for #MESExperiments 47...

Related Videos

MES Science video series: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLai3U8-WIK0GhjCHmTw1XbqMD_EdVKdd9
Anti-Gravity video series: @mes/series
Free Energy video series: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLai3U8-WIK0FKVpHL_onhaqBeVP-8qJXV .

Screenshots of Experiment

For reference, the screenshots of the experiment are shown below:

MES Links: https://mes.fm/links