Why does a candle flame take a teardrop shape?
Pranav Kumar. A Chennai The flame in a candle is caused by the burning of the wax, a process that liberates a large amount of energy in the form of heat. This heat, in turn, excites the molecules and atoms in the air and the carbonaceous combustion products of the burnt wax. These excited atoms and molecules get de-excited and emit the light we see. The flame is, thus, a collection of highly heated gas atoms and molecules, which having lower density than the surrounding air, lifts itself up. During this, it goes farther from the source of heat and gets cooled by transferring heat to the surrounding air, which rushes from the neighbourhood. As the height increases, the cool air exerts a transverse pressure on the flame from all sides making it teardrop-shaped. The progressively increased effective cooling of the flame at higher levels from the tip of the candle can be demonstrated by a simple experiment. Take a flat-bottomed plate with some ordinary water and hold it for a short while a
