what are the two gases released from a burning wax candle
min11 Wed 07/05/08 16:28
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Carbon dioxide and water vapour (not sure I would class water vapour as a 'gas' though)
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Of course water vapor is a gas! It is water that is in a gas phase.
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quite right newtron, what I meant to imply was that it is not usually referred to as a gas, or is it just me. It must be me TAXI !!!
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Yes north star, it is just you. The word vapour is a dead give-away.
Not solid,
Not liquid,
Not plasma,
but a gas.
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We don't usually call water vapour a gas - but it is.
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The trouble is that the word vapour has more than one meaning.
It can certainly mean a gas but it can also mean a mist. As children we always had it pointed out that the first half-inch of 'steam' coming out of the kettle spout was invisible - it was a gas, true gaseous water. After that the visible 'steam' was not a gas; it comprised tiny droplets of water condensed from the gas. But it is still fair to call it a vapour, just as we talk about the 'vapour trail' behind a jet aircraft - again tiny droplets.
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a vapour if you compress it, liquifiies
and a gas dont.
so put another way, a vapour is a gas below its critical temp.
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So, by that argument, Peter, carbon dioxide is also a 'vapour' and not a 'gas' - for if you compress it, it liquifies!!
But I see your point - by vapour, we tend to mean the formation of the gaseous phase at a temperature below that of the substance's boiling point (for a given pressure)- eg. by evaporation.
I think we can safely assume that a candle burns at a temperature above 100°C, so that both the combustion products of carbon dioxide and water will, at standard pressure, certainly be gases in the true sense.
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