alt.energy.renewable

Morris Dovey wrote:

> Eeyore wrote:
> | Sevenhundred Elves wrote:
> || Anthony Matonak wrote:
> ||| IsaacKuo wrote:
> |||| "Morris Dovey" wrote:
> ||||| Hmm. Have you ever _seen_ an H2/O2 flame? I've done it, but
> ||||| never seen the flame...
> ||||
> |||| The flame in question is apparently rather visible. Why?
> |||| I don't know. Maybe it's because of excess oxygen (the
> |||| oxygen produced from the water plus the oxygen in the
> |||| air)--oxygen is how the Aqueon's flame is made visible.
> |||
> ||| Maybe it's the salt burning.
> ||
> || That's probably it. Although you shouldn't call it "burning", that
> || might mislead people. The salt just shines from the extreme heat
> || of the invisible H2-O2 flame. Was the flame intensely yellow? If
> || the salt is the explanation it should be yellow because of all the
> || sodium in seawater.
> |
> | Sodium's emission lines are more orange than yellow actually.
>
> Thanks all. Your responses have been (sorta) enlightening, but you've
> got me wondering about what's being produced in this yellow/orange
> flame (I'm obviously not a chemistry guru.)
>
> Along with the obvious water vapor, does the flame produce metallic
> sodium vapor? NaCl vapor? NaOH vapor? HCl vapor? (other?)
>
> Except for the NaCl, none of these things strike me as particularly
> good for breathing...

You only need a few sodium *ions* to get that colour.

Graham