Candle Burning Experiment

Science - Candle burning

How does a candle burn?

We have been learning how a candle needs fuel and oxygen from the air for it to keep burning. We did some experiments this week to find out how a candle needs air to burn.

We took 4 different sized jars and talked about what would happen if we put the jar over a lit candle.

We all had different ideas about what would happen:

Mia said "The glass might catch on fire".

"It might melt the glass" said Riley.

Tui said "The candle will go out".

Charlotte thought the candle would stay alight.

Harry said "It will stay alight for a little bit, and then go out"

Harry was right! The candle stayed alight for a few seconds then went out.

We timed how long it took for the candle to go out, using a stopwatch.

We estimated how long it would take for each of the glass jars, and then we timed it. 

We thought that the bigger the jar, the more air in it, so the longer the candle would burn.

Then we asked the question "Where is the air?"

Do you think we could blow air at this glass jar and blow out the candle behind it?

Most children said "No way!" So we all had a go at trying to blow out the candle.

We did it!

0. What happened was that the air separated when it hit the sides of the jar and flowed around its curves to come together again and form a stream that hit the candle. Sure, you couldn’t see it, but it happened!