Thread: bunsen

does a bunsen burner's flame maintain its shape in zero gravity? Not a big rocket engine just a bunsen will it work properly or not?
secondly how would you light a solid fuel fire in zero gravity and how would the ashes fall?

Interesting question, so I trawled google.
JFGI

This link covers your questions, I think.
How does fire behave in zero gravity?

It also has a link to an astronaut in space explaining:
Ask Astronaut Greg Chamitoff: Light a Match! - YouTube

And here is a video of a brief fire in micro-gravity:
A Flame in Microgravity, aka 'Zero Gravity' (Event Horizon) - YouTube

To summarise: fire quickly burns itself out in zero gravity.
It burns all of the oxygen in its immediate surroundings and (without gravity) no new oxygen is pushed towards the flame.

thats so cool i was wondering about the gas too with the pressure differential in space will the gas flow to the bunsen as normal or not?

Originally Posted by fiveworlds

thats so cool i was wondering about the gas too with the pressure differential in space will the gas flow to the bunsen as normal or not?

The gas would be from a pressurised container, so the gas would still come out of the bunsen.
And in space (in a vacuum), it would not burn at all. But in a space station, it appears from those links, that it would keep extinguishing itself.

If you filled the room with gas and tried to light it, I expect it would make a brief fireball, much as it would on earth - but I haven't found a link to confirm that.

i remember it was a while back now i studied flame tests and that the colour of each flame corresponded to a particular line emission spectra these line emission spectra so i was told were able to be used in the detemination of the chemical composition of certain stars if the colour of flames changes under the influence of pressure how do you ensure these results are accurate?