Candle Making Through the Centuries Essays

The candle maker’s job helped the rich and poor. Since, some peasants couldn’t afford beeswax candles they bought tallow candles which were made out of animal fat. The animal fat burned faster than the beeswax candles, and had a smokier flame than beeswax candles. Which is why the tallow candles were cheaper. Rich people usually bought beeswax candles because they lasted longer and were nicer than the tallow candles. Also, tallow candles gave off a foul stench.

This article focuses on the Revolutionary period of Colonial Williamsburg when candles were a primary light source in homes. At this time in history there were four primary substances used in making candles, spermaceti, tallow, beeswax, and myrtle or bayberry wax. The three latter substances were produced in Virginia. Methods of making these candles and how they were shaped are described in the article.

a) Firstly, the candle burns due to the reaction of hydrocarbons (wax) and oxygen, releasing carbon dioxide and water. During combustion, the fuel must be vaporized to accommodate the high temperature of the flame. As a result, the liquified wax travels up to the wick and transforms into a gaseous state due to an increase in temperature. Moreover, the wax changes state due to the particles gaining kinetic energy and losing potential energy; they lose their attractiveness and spread apart from another, creating larger spaces in between. Furthermore, the solid wax around the wick also changes state to a liquid due to the heat given off by the flame.

Candles are a convenient way of providing light and heat when no electricity is available. They are normally made from paraffin wax with a wick in the middle. Candles can also be made from soy wax or other plant wax, animal fat or bee wax. Wax acts as a fuel to keep the candle burning. The wick has to be an absorbent twine with

Millhouse Candles has an article on their website with a timeline of candle history. “A Short History of Candles” outlines this history from 3000 BC to present. This outline is broken up into four periods, 3000 to 1 BC, 1 BC to 1500 AD, 1500 AD to 1799 AD, and 1800 AD to present. Each of these time periods contain facts about the cultures that were making candles, the materials used for the candles within the periods and a technological advancement for that time.

Glow sticks, like many other everyday items, have chemistry involved with them. Glow sticks were discovered by Edwin Chandross in the 1960s. He was a young chemist at Bell Labs in Murray Hill, New Jersey. Edwin Chandross actually discovered the glow stick on accident. All along he was just trying to find a general way to explain chemiluminescence. By mixing florescent light and hydrogen peroxide with oxalyl chloride, he discovered how to create a glowing chemical light. From Chandross original discovery a lab team called American Cyanamid, led by Michael M. Rahurt, created an oxalate ester named phenyl oxalate to replace the oxalyl chloride. This lab team then sold their new product to a group named Omniglow who went

b) The candle could be a source of light since there wasn’t any electricity back then. In most houses there wasn’t many windows and if there was they were usually narrow due to the cold war.

The candles normally used are Biosun ear candles, which are made by hand today using the traditional recipe incorporating

The purpose of this lab was to observe the burning of a candle and to determine the rate at which a candle burns. In order to begin, we tightened our candle into the clay located in a weight boat. Then, we measured the initial height and mass. The original height was 8.5 cm. The original mass was 9.26 g. In addition, we noted that the candle was made of wax, had a spiral pattern, was pink with white stripes, and had a pencil-like shape.

The appearance and physical features of the candle made the quantitative data very different. When the students were observing the fact that a candle needs oxygen to burn, they needed to place a 400mL beaker over the candle. One of the possible errors could be the beaker was wet or it was placed too fast over the candle and this made the flame to go out. When this process was repeated the candle flame lasted longer, this could have also

The lava lamp was invented in Britain in nineteen sixty three by Edward Craven Walker.  The lava in the original lava lamp was made of a weighted, wax-based liquid, that when heated by the lamp, cycled up and down in the vertical cylinder of the lamp.  The non-lava substance in the

When Columbus got here in 1492 when they were on the ship they had seen a light. They described it as a a small wax candle

As the change in mass and temperature is small for both candle wax (and paraffin in this experiment), it is clear that there is little changes when these fuels are combusting in their physical states. This means that these fuels last longer but are an unreliable source of energy as a fuel. The change in temperature being small suggests that these alkanes produce poor heat output, however that fully contradicts their high experimental and theoretical heats of combustion and percentage yields. The fact that the change in temperature was so low can be experimental side effects. One being that candle wax particularly produces the extra energy source of light possibly more so than paraffin and even the experiment 1 alcohols. Another experimental error as to why the change in temperature isn’t very large could be due to the surrounds not being a fully insulator set up (calorimetry – experiment 1

What was once an expensive indulgence is now an affordable commodity and they are used by anyone and everyone to enhance the sensual aspects of their home. Some even match the candles to the theme of their rooms, although this is more common in the USA than in the UK as yet. Although there is still a reluctance by many to use them, perhaps borne from old belief that candles were not for ordinary people, they can enable you to enjoy a lovely smell throughout your home all day, every day, or perhaps just on special occasions.

Materials: The materials that are needed are a timer to know when 30 minutes is up and it’s time to blow the candles out. Also a lighter to light the candle so they can burn. A pen for writing the data down and paper to wright the data down on. Also don’t forget the candles which are mainstay unscented and black cherry scented to be able to collect data.