Lecture Four: The Chemical History of a Candle - The Nature of the Atmosphere (5/6)

Bill Hammack presents Lecture Four of Michael Faraday’s lectures on The Chemical History of a Candle. A free companion book helps modern viewers understand each lecture - details at www.engineerguy.com - as does a commentary track and closed captions for each lecture.
►Free Companion book to this video series
www.engineerguy.com/faraday
Text of Every Lecture | Essential Background | Guides to Every Lecture | Teaching Guide & Student Activities
In these lectures Michael Faraday’s careful examination of a burning candle reveals the fundamental concepts of chemistry, while at the same time superbly demonstrating the scientific method. In this lecture Faraday investigates the properties of oxygen, nitrogen and carbon dioxide.
LINKS TO OTHER VIDEOS IN THIS SERIES
► Lectures
(1/6) Introduction to Michael Faraday’s Chemical History of a Candle
• Introduction: The Chem...
(2/6) Lecture One: A Candle: Sources of its Flame
• Lecture One: The Chemi...
(3/6) Lecture Two: Brightness of the Flame
• Lecture Two: The Chemi...
(4/6) Lecture Three: Products of Combustion
• Lecture Three: The Che...
(5/6) Lecture Four: The Nature of the Atmosphere
• Lecture Four: The Chem...
(6/6) Lecture Five: Respiration & its Analogy to the Burning of a Candle
• Lecture Five: The Chem...
► Bonus Videos: Lectures with Commentary
Lecture One: A Candle: Sources of its Flame (Commentary version)
• Commentary Lecture One...
Lecture Two: Brightness of the Flame (Commentary version)
• Commentary Lecture Two...
Lecture Three: Products of Combustion (Commentary version)
• Commentary Lecture Thr...
Lecture Four: The Nature of the Atmosphere (Commentary version)
• Commentary Lecture Fou...
Lecture Five: Respiration & its Analogy to the Burning of a Candle (Commentary version)
• Commentary Lecture Fiv...
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COMPANION BOOK DETAILS
The companion book is available as an ebook, in paperback and hardcover - and for free as a PDF. Details on all versions are at www.engineerguy.com/faraday
Michael Faraday’s The Chemical History of a Candle
with Guides to the Lectures, Teaching Guides & Student Activities
Bill Hammack & Don DeCoste
190 pages | 5 x 8 | 14 illustrations
Hardcover (Casebound) | ISBN 978-0-9838661-8-0 | $24.95
Paper| ISBN 978-1-945441-00-4| $11.99
eBook | ISBN 978-0-9839661-9-7 | $3.99
Audience: 01 - General Trade
Subjects
SCI013000 SCIENCE / Chemistry / General
SCI028000 SCIENCE / Experiments & Projects
SCI000000 SCIENCE / General
EDU029030 EDUCATION / Teaching Methods & Materials / Science & Technology
This book introduces modern readers to Michael Faraday’s great nineteenth-century lectures on The Chemical History of a Candle. This companion to the KZbin series contains supplemental material to help readers appreciate Faraday’s key insight that “there is no more open door by which you can enter into the study of science than by considering the physical phenomena of a candle.” Through a careful examination of a burning candle, Faraday’s lectures introduce readers to the concepts of mass, density, heat conduction, capillary action, and convection currents. They demonstrate the difference between chemical and physical processes, such as melting, vaporization, incandescence, and all types of combustion. And the lectures reveal the properties of hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, and carbon dioxide, including their relative masses and the makeup of the atmosphere. The lectures wrap up with a grand, and startling, analogy: by understanding the chemical behavior of a candle the reader can grasp the basics of respiration. To help readers understand Faraday’s key points this book has an “Essential Background” section that explains in modern terms how a candle works, introductory guides for each lecture written in contemporary language, and seven student activities with teaching guides.
Author Bios
Bill Hammack is a Professor of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering at the University of Illinois-Urbana, where he focuses on educating the public about engineering and science. He is the creator and host of the popular KZbin channel engineerguyvideo.
Don DeCoste is a Specialist in Education in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Illinois-Urbana, where he teaches freshmen and pre-service high school chemistry teachers. He is the co-author of four chemistry textbooks.

[@ThatChemistOld]

These are extremely well done

[@JohnSmith-td7hd]

Schools should use this to teach chemistry.

[@garrettnewland6081]

my school does. currently doing a project for it.

[@JohnSmith-td7hd]

@@garrettnewland6081 Hey; that sounds great! :) Glad to hear it.

[@harryvrabec-lyons7087]

Id start doing chem again if my school taught this lol

[@Ashcombeguy]

I'm watching these whist slightly drunk and im bloody loving them! So interesting. Really speaks volumes about the quality of Faraday's lectures that they are still so captivating today. Really love your work, keep it up guys, thanks!

[@locohombre79]

Your voice, reading Faraday's words, sounds just like the subvocalisation my brain gives to Edgar Allan Poe :) Fantastic series, by the way. Thank you!

[@biggerbrother7]

Thank you for your excellent videos. Is there no one who still says thank you among KZbinrs? At any rate Thank you, that was a lot of work to produce.

[@HebaruSan]

I guess it's a sign of the times that Faraday wanted to introduce CO₂ using limewater, but I felt like he was introducing limewater using CO₂.

[@maraqidi6259]

so much science in one simple candle. amazing

[@gonzalesfrederic6213]

The videoes this genius makes should be made mandatory to watch at school. Excellent videoes

[@danparden8103]

I love these videos thank you for making them. I have learned so much. The things we take for granted every day it’s fascinating

[@matthewchristianson971]

We are watching these in our homeschool while reading a bio about Faraday. They are great, thank you very much for making them. I'm stumped with the emphasis on understanding air pressure in this particular lecture. I understand that the nitrogen in the air is stable and therefore keeps our entire atmosphere from burning... but how, in particular, does AIR PRESSURE affect the candle flame and/or why is air pressure itself important to understand in relation to the burning of the candle? Thanks for any insights!

[@LuaanTi]

What matters is the partial pressure of oxygen. A pure oxygen atmosphere would work similarly for combustion _if_ you reduce the atmospheric pressure accordingly - that is, about one fifth atmospheric pressure. There's differences in practice, of course - e.g. combustion also depends on the partial pressure of carbon dioxide, air with nitrogen is denser, the nitrogen carries heat away in convection _without_ being available for combustion itself etc.. But all things equal, larger partial pressure of oxygen means more combustion. You can achieve this by separating the pure oxygen from air, or by increasing atmospheric pressure. Higher partial pressure makes it more likely that individual molecules of oxygen combine with e.g. individual atoms of carbon, and at the same time, less likely the reverse is going to happen - carbon dioxide splitting into carbon and oxygen. Remember, chemical reactions go both ways - we create a bias towards the side we want by changing the environmental conditions, like temperature, pressure or concentration. At equilibrium, both trends are equal - going from A -> B is just as likely as going from B -> A. As for nitrogen keeping the atmosphere from burning, that's not an accurate representation. In fact, the nitrogen is the only large portion of the atmosphere that _can_ burn in the first place - it combines with oxygen to form various nitrogen oxides (though it requires energy, rather than releasing it). However, as you say, nitrogen is very stable - this essentially doesn't happen at ambient pressure and temperature. To get appreciable amounts of nitrogen oxides, you need high temperature and/or pressure - as in the exhaust of internal combustion engines, where it's a dangerous pollutant. A pure oxygen atmosphere wouldn't burn - there would be nothing to burn in the first place. However, many other things would readily burn in a pure oxygen atmosphere - things like trees, grass or _iron_ :) (in fact, iron does burn even in our atmosphere - very, very slowly; that's what rusting is. Iron filings burn particularly well).

[@anti-ethniccleansing465]

@@LuaanTi Oh wow. Never heard of rust being described this way.

[@chemivids2036]

Cool videos. I started making my own chemical rxns a few years ago because of Faraday's book. I did my oxygen experiment with air and it was pretty quick. Took only seconds to become clear again.

[@lj9850]

Cool and helpful I like the book and these videos are great thanks!👍🏻😁

[@resin8n]

Much appreciated and enjoyable to watch. Thanks!

[@rushianokun]

Faraday is becoming my hero

[@nescius2]

I enjoyed this, thanks

[@SudipBhattacharyya]

Excellent. Thank you so much :-)

[@dciug]

These videos are incredible

[@vetabateham8101]

fr fr

[@cheddarbob3834]

All you people complaining about 6 videos popping up in your feed need to find something else to complain about, these videos are great. Who the heck would want to wait for them to come out over the course of a week?

[@markbell9742]

Just fantastic; no not just, more than just. Cheers, Mark ************************

[@NesrocksGamingVideos]

Faraday is the Dickens of the physics world.

[@joebspixel5a941]

I love it so very much 😍

[@Ryan-dj5ku]

At 7:10, he says the weight of sure in the room is above a ton. That's a huge room. 2000 lb /(0.0764lb/ft3)= 26000 ft3. Assuming 10 ft ceilings that's a square room of 51 ft x 51 ft.

[@65gtotrips]

Isn’t there at least some Carbon Monoxide also thrown off by the incomplete combustion of the candle as well ? I.E. like an oil or gas furnace, generator, or oven ?

[@joebspixel5a941]

So very good

[@Technoguy3]

I don't remember subscribing to a magician!

[@alienjellyfish4383]

Lol,

[@LJCyrus1]

Magic is just an application of science you don't yet understand.

[@EconaelGaming]

Why did the balloon rise for a bit when you turned the pump off?

[@tisFrancesfault]

Its due to air rushing under the balloon lifting it. In a similar way as the egg.

[@pembrokeshiredan]

I'm pretty sure that blackboard "chalk" is made from calcium sulphate, not calcium carbonate. How did it smell when it went in the acid?

[@engineerguyvideo]

+Dan Soper we discuss this on a footnote I the book. In faraday's time -- the 19th century -- blackboard chalk was calcium carbonate. Today most chalk is, I believe, gypsum. I recall having to look far and wide the get the old fashioned chalk for this video. I think we mention this in the commentary video for this lecture also.

[@AMalas]

*talks with 19 century language* *pulls out toy bubble gun* isnt that funny

[@engineerguyvideo]

Yeah, we had long, long discussions about how much to modernize the lectures. We worried about the mix or old language with new things. The balance was hard to find.

[@YawnGod]

NEVER APOLOGIZE FOR SUCH GLORIOUSNESS.

[@AMalas]

YawnGod I agree NEVAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAR

[@ignacioxxi]

So what? Its a fast way to make bubbles and show what Faraday done. Try to abstract your mind and imagine Faraday making the bubbles.... Now complain about the Engineerguy is not dressed as in 1850... LOL

[@AMalas]

ignacioxxi I know, I just found it ultra funny ;')

[@alienjellyfish4383]

I liked the bubble blower and the air gun. XD

[@TheJaredtheJaredlong]

As a classical architect, it was little painful to see that marble so easily destroyed.

[@anti-ethniccleansing465]

Faraday really liked the adjective ”pretty.” ;)

[@shubhrajit2117]

What's the explanation for the egg jumping into another bowl? At 10:50

[@donwald3436]

Should we be storing compressed air so we lose less of it into space?

[@joebspixel5a941]

I love it

[@ElectricityTaster]

So in a burning building should I crouch right down to the floor or should I keep my nostrils in the smoke?

[@vetabateham8101]

Nice!

[@joebspixel5a941]

Love it

[@leandroboog1311]

alright back 😊😙

[@hopkinsproductions2821]

19:18, having fun at work.

[@anti-ethniccleansing465]

Didn’t he mean to say “lighter density” though? The air bubbles had lighter density than the CO2 gas they were floating in, no?

[@MirzaBorogovac]

I don't think original manuscript included plastic in the demonstration. i wonder how The did the demonstration with ceran wrap in the original lecture.

[@LionWolverine]

❤❤ l like his videos

[@MaD1ck]

Poetic prose

[@rvbyp]

moments 19:20 and 10:35 are my childhood :0

[@joebspixel5a941]

❤️

[@anti-ethniccleansing465]

12:30 I’m surprised the balloon didn’t pop. I still don’t get how he was able to blow the egg from one container to another. Wtf.

[@Xelbiuj]

"Perhaps you'll say it's very uninteresting . . ." No one is here to say anything like that.

[@anti-ethniccleansing465]

19:00 But if the flask remained as just air, the results would be the same (the flame would have also distinguished). What am I missing here?

[@simonb.5624]

The results wouldn't be the same in air. He demonstrates this a few minutes earlier: 16:00. The taper burns in a flask of air and is smothered in a flask of CO2. The burning or not burning is a test to determine the gases present in the flask.

[@NitromeSupporter]

was sold on the egg trick

[@joebspixel5a941]

❤️😍

[@jel9836]

15:49 I wouldnt say that those materials are capable of producing large amounts of carbon dioxide as it's mainly owing to the oxygen of the atmosphere which is separate from the material? Great video!!

[@joebspixel5a941]

😘❤️

[@aapjeaaron]

4:45 i was expecting him to say global warming.

[@tastefulmemer4082]

The egg monuver is from Scam School.

[@Soniti1324]

Dear God, who would have expected a decade old Revision 3 reference?

[@tastefulmemer4082]

+Soniti1324 yeah exactly

[@r0cketplumber]

"...it is as indifferent to all our organs as it is possible for a thing to be." And yet, even at one bar, nitrogen does give partial narcosis- when people were given iq tests while breathing heliox at one bar, they scored significantly higher. Removing nitrogen makes you smarter- but sound funny. Too expensive for routine use, of course.

[@rabbitslayer42]

and where the hell is part 6?!?!?!?

[@engineerguyvideo]

Here is part 6 (it is lecture five): kzbin.info/www/bejne/fJOXg6KGetmqqdE; here is a playlist: kzbin.info/aero/PL0INsTTU1k2UCpOfRuMDR-wlvWkLan1_r

[@rabbitslayer42]

Thank

[@65gtotrips]

This man needs to explain the major benefits of carbon dioxide to the climate change zealots.

[@alexfall862]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/rGKniHubpNp9j68 Is that the burn from the soap bubbles on your hand? Great videos, btw.

[@r.b.4611]

Music name?

[@tohopes]

I do not like the "click" sound at the end of each video. I get to the end, and am moving around with the mouse to Like the video and then navigate to the next video in the series, when - "CLICK!" Semi-consiously, it feels as though someone is nudging me, castigating me for moving too slowly, for not getting on to the next video quickly enough. Ending each video with silence (just letting the music fade out) would be more enjoyable.

[@oleaginous]

lol

[@pyromen321]

FIRST (5/6)

[@Soniti1324]

dolan pls also is best portraiture

[@bontragerjones]

My mind is struggling with the concept that the weight of the air made the film break.

[@joebspixel5a941]

😄💓🥰😘😍

[@elthomas_]

4:33 lmao if only he knew about climate change...

[@anti-ethniccleansing465]

🙄

[@stevenolsen6360]

what a shame NASA EXPERTS in chemistry, did not know this about 100% oxygen, before they fill the apollo capsule, bang

[@morte3252]

No poetry please.

[@joebspixel5a941]

I love it

[@joebspixel5a941]

❤️

[@joebspixel5a941]

❤️

[@joebspixel5a941]

❤️