Gray Matter: Trapping Burning Gasses With a Thin Wire Screen

Very cool! I always wondered what made the lamp safe in an atmosphere of explosive gases.

This is illogical,

that's insanely creepy on so many levels. my grandpa was a fire chief, rip, he taught my dad everything there was to know about fires who then taught me a lot about them. one of the things he didn't need to teach me was to never put an unlit opened propane torch next to an "open" flame.

but it works! that's amazing. and i can see how it works. kudos mr. mad scientist

"Today his lamp is all but forgotten, but his reputation as one of the first and greatest chemists lives on."

False. Propane lanterns are still widely used today for camping. They are still based off of this principle using mesh mantles.

I wonder if that would be able to contain plasma...

Im definetly not a rocket scientist, but is coleman lanterns not also the same thing? with the little cloth bootie?

pv=nrt

volume varies directly with temperature

hotter air = bigger air = cant pass through mesh

Bigger air...yeah right... Sounds like you learned the formula and never understood the implications. This formula describes the properties of a given amount of gas. However, the individual air particles do not get measurably larger because it is heated up.

@V3rtigo
By plasma, I assume you are speaking about fusion reactors and some such. In short, no, this won't. The temperatures and pressures involved are too great to be contained by any material we know of and can make a mesh out of. After all, it isn't any fun for anybody if the P gets large enough to rupture the V. :P

Hey Freekin, I think you need to Wiki plasma. In fact a flame is plasma.

Mantles on lanterns are DO NOT prevent combustion of outside materials like a Davy lamp. They are there as the incandescence and candoluminescence of the various oxides they can contain create a much more intense light than simple combustion. The high temperature of the mantle itself is more than enough to ignite most materials.

I never said that the individual air particles gaining volume. I meant a given amount of gas.

assuming the rising volume of the air is limited by the mesh, then the pressure must be increased. If the gas expanded uniformly, then the flame might escape, because there is no air with smaller volume and pressure. However, since the expansion is not uniform (because of gravity and wind), the air furthest from the flame has the lowest pressure and volume meaning that that air is going to escape first.

This means that the lower pressure and density air that fuels the fire coming from the bottom, rises up around and with the fire because of the rising temperature and volume. However, because this air is not as hot and big as the air that is the fire, this air escapes the net more easily.

Actually, I don't see any reason why individual air particles would not get relatively larger depending on the heat, however, I also don't see any reason why they should. Perhaps you have facts to back up your statement

@V3rtigo
If my reasoning is correct, then, with increasing pressures and volumes of combustions, the net can have larger holes, and you can make the wires much thicker. However, if the expansion rate is faster than the speed of sound, then this definitely won't work, because this gas, or plasma, will not have the same volumes and pressures of air decreasing with distance from the expansion, it will be too abrupt.

@Freekin:
-"it isn't any fun for anybody if the P gets large enough to rupture the V. :P"

Me:
-what?

@Freekin:
-"it isn't any fun for anybody if the P gets large enough to rupture the V. :P"

Me:
oh

@jclevall

Yes, they serve both purposes.

Hm This does not appear very safe for general use. A candle is dangerous ,but this a trouble waiting to happen. It might be useful for outdoor lighting in a controlled environment. I would be interested to know how long the lamp can burn before shutting down or this too dependent on the candle and gas used?

www.amazingchandeliers.co.uk