How to change the colour of fire

Please note, this video contains images of fast flickering flames throughout.

What's going on when the flames change colour? An explanation from the live show 'Kaleidoscope'.

[AK-vzzr]

Was curious from the movie Elemental when the fire character changed colours with minerals...this was cool to learn about !

[Elizabeth-sozp]

Guess which film brought me here.
Thank you for the easy and clean explanation.

[dalelashnd]

The copper's fire color is AWESOME! Not only is it green I caught traces of blue and orange.

[letters_to_theo]

This was fantastic!

My son was born the week before this came out, so unfortunately, he missed it being posted. 😐

But, this morning, my (now 7yo) son and his 6yo brother came to me looking for science answers. They wanted to know if flames could have different colors.

With a hearty "Heck yeah, they can!" but wanting a visual to show them, I went on a (fruitless) Google search (I couldn't find any engaging content directed at an age-inclusive audience).

I did a quick search on YouTube and this video jumped out at me*, and after pre-screening it, shared it with my kids.

They couldn't understand all of it, but the wording made it easy to work around the more difficult bits (which aren't completely relevant to their learning yet, anyway, so it gives me the opportunity to revisit those concepts in the future without overwhelming them with facts).

They stayed engaged: my 6yo loved the host's vocal tone and beamed through the whole video, and my 7yo found it engaging.

They both enjoyed seeing the full demonstration. They liked seeing the relevant elements of set-up (the physical pouring of powdered chemicals into the surface, igniting the flames, etc) because it made them feel like they were there/involved rather than spectating.

tl;dr: Thank you! This video answered my kids' science question, and they very much enjoyed the demonstration as well as the host's explanation.

liked and subscribed 👍

[hayfire]

I loved your video - clean, simple and quiet. Nice !

[TetrahedronDash]

I love the Copper/Green one, but probably because my favorite MegaMan character is Burner Man, who emits green fire too xD

[YugenOfficial]

whats the hottest fire color? White? Blue? Green?

[DeathDealer-DD]

i came from watching elemental, when ember(fire character) started changing color ... saying: it's the minerals. the video is just beautiful

[mamamo]

When temperatures approach 2, 400º F to 2, 700º F, flames appear white. ... The color blue indicates a temperature even hotter than white. Blue flames usually appear at a temperature between 2, 600º F and 3, 000º F. Blue flames have more oxygen and get hotter because gases burn hotter than organic materials, such as wood. SO BLUE IS HOTTER

[mackyoki]

1:49 i see no diffrence between the fire and the stop lights

[sureshmkm]

what is the liquid u r pouring using the syringe

[-k]

this video is amazing 1st time i saw the green color fire,
Which color of fire have more heat?

[AloisAgos]

You can get a green flame also by using boric acid (Active ingredient in roach killer and certain chemical cleaners).

[whatskrakin]

_Yugen, it’s actually purple because if you look at the electromagnetic spectrum, it shows how each color changes according to the wavelength and frequency. “ The HOTTEST we have DISCOVERED so far is actually blue, meaning blue star, but we haven’t yet discovered a purple. It is believed that the hottest would be a purple star but I could be wrong. Just giving up my opinion and observations. I’m pretty sure that this is not the same for fire meaning fire on earth not that there is any fire in space but I’m not sure if it’s true that the hottest fire is actually purple. Now I’m pretty sure it is for stars because stars are believed to me made of plasma which is the 4 state of matter but fire is not plasma. FUN FACT: Did you know that you can create plasma if you microwave fire, not that you should but it’s something cool to know, also there is believed to me a 5th state of matter as well called dark matter which is what is believed to hold the universe together, meaning all of that empty space in outer space which is where there is nothing could actually have dark matter which is what holds all the stars and galaxies in their orbit. And yes galaxies and stars do orbit as well.

[viktorull]

For that I read, in Tokyo 2020 Olympics and Paralympics the cauldron will be in multicolored flame as like in the video!

[aparajitasharma]

It is not just the case with salts or metals. If you colour a strip of paper blue it burns green too.. but surprisingly none other colour other than violet shows any trace of green flames.
There is something odd about blues.
Ancient Egyptians didn't even had a name for blue colour and they had words for every small things.
Why?
Is it because blue is not a part of the cosmos and later became a part of it.
Just curious!

[kenanalsoud]

i like the light green flame it is so sick

[sam]

Curious if you know of a food safe way to make any colored flame one wants to produce in his/ her flambees. But keeping it still food consumption safe?

[zyxify]

Looks like it's dancing lol dancing party!!

[jagdishvbm]

what are u using for flaming medium...my mean is what are you using for burn ?