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The students conducted an experiment to determine how the temperature of a flame affects the color produced. They hypothesized that as the temperature increased, the color of the flame would shift towards infrared on the visible light spectrum. The students measured the temperature of the flame using a thermocouple and the color wavelength using a spectroscope. Their results showed that as temperature increased from 402 to 1036 degrees Celsius, the color wavelength shifted from 510 to 710 nanometers on the visible light spectrum, supporting their hypothesis. The experiment taught them about the relationship between heat and color, though obtaining reliable measurements proved challenging.

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348 views

Lightwavewriteup

The students conducted an experiment to determine how the temperature of a flame affects the color produced. They hypothesized that as the temperature increased, the color of the flame would shift towards infrared on the visible light spectrum. The students measured the temperature of the flame using a thermocouple and the color wavelength using a spectroscope. Their results showed that as temperature increased from 402 to 1036 degrees Celsius, the color wavelength shifted from 510 to 710 nanometers on the visible light spectrum, supporting their hypothesis. The experiment taught them about the relationship between heat and color, though obtaining reliable measurements proved challenging.

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© © All Rights Reserved
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Izzy Tyler

Skylar Barr
Grace Frideger

How Temperature of a Flame Effects Color Produced


For this experiment, we had to do an experiment relating to light waves. Izzy, Skylar and I
decided to do an experiment on how temperature (used an alcohol flame) effects the frequency of
the the
light produced.

Abstract:

For our lab


experiment
we choose, as a
group of three, to evaluate and question how temperature of a flame effects frequency of light
produced. Our motivation emerged when Brian mentioned conducting an experiment that had to
do with light waves. We contemplated at what color and flame expanse that the temperature
would change. When we first did the experiment, Izzy and Graces method of using rubbing
alcohol to vary the flame heat was unsuccessful. The second experiment Izzy used a camp stove
allowing her the ability to control the temperature of the flame. She started out with a cooler
flame and gradually increased. Every time that we increased the heat, we would take the
temperature of the flame using the thermocouple, and also use the spectroscope to check where
the flame was at on the Visible Spectrum. In the end, as we predicted in our hypothesis, when the
heat increased, the color moved towards Infrared.

Introduction: In this experiment we focused on heat, in this case a campfire stove flame, and
how it affects the color produced. Color is created when energy in different forms is transformed
into electromagnetic energy in the field of The Visible Spectrum. In this experiment, we used a
thermocouple to measure the heat, in celsius, of the flame. We also used a spectroscope to
measure the light, measured in nanometers, in the Visible Spectrum. We chose to do this
experiment because we were interested how these two things interlocked. We predict that as the
heat of the flame increases, the color will shift further towards infrared in the Visible Spectrum.

Question and Hypothesis:


How does the temperature of a flame affect the frequency of light produced?
If the heat of the flame affects the frequency of light then the hotter the flame, the higher the
frequency because there is more energy in the light wave.

Method and Materials:

Matches
Chart for results
Computer
Instrument that measures temperature
Instrument that measures the frequency of light
Thermocouple
Rubbing alcohol
Iphone for taking pictures

Results:
temperature (celsius)

color wavelength (nanometers)

402

510

545

550

750

590

900

670

1036

710

Discussion:
This experiment was a very educational and enlightening assignment. We decided to create this
experiment in order to understand how heat affects color. As you can tell from our hypothesis,
we expected the color (measured in nanometers) to move towards the infrared side of the
Spectrum. After doing our experiment, we discovered that, in fact, we were correct. When the
flame was at a higher temperature, the color shifted further towards the infrared side of the
spectrum. This experiment was very significant in the way that it taught us about the basic
concepts of color, the Visible Spectrum, and the direct correlation between heat and color.
However,it took us several attempts to conduct a reliable experiment. The first time, we used a
rubbing alcohol flame so adjusting the heat in consistent intervals was impossible. We quickly

realized this didn't work, so we then used a campfire-stove flame, allowing us to adjust the
temperature in a controlled way. We also had a short amount of time to conduct the experiment
correctly so we were unable to get an ample amount of data to make a more informed conclusion
as to the effects. We also struggled to read the nanometers. If we were to reconduct this
experiment, we would record more data and vary the heat of the flame more drastically. Overall,
this experiment, although not perfect, was very informative.

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