Half a croissant, on a plate, with a sign in front of it saying '50c'
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Candle air supplier

Self-regulating air supply
 
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Wide pillar candles can burn down leaving tall wall of wax around the molten pool and wick. The air flowing down over the rim of this wall can lead the flame to gutter or to wobble.

What is needed is a mechanism for ensuring a steady flow of air into the base of the flame.

If there were a heatproof e.g. metal or ceramic tube running the height of the candle, air could be drawn up through the tube from the base of the candle, to the top of the tube which would be above the top of the new unburned candle.

A top-hat shaped object with a hollow sealed bouyant brim would sit over the top of the tube. The crown of the hat would be as tall as the candle. There would be vent holes above the brim.

The bouyant brin would float on the surface of the molten wax. The vent holes would be just above the surface of the molten wax. Air could flow from the exterior base of the candle, up the tube, into the crown of the hat, and down to exit through the vent holes and feed the flame. As the candle burned down the vent holes would stay just above the surface of the burning wax.

pocmloc, Jan 12 2020

Candle follower https://en.wikipedi...le#Candle_followers
WKTE [8th of 7, Jan 12 2020]

Long burning The_20Longest_20Burning_20Candle_20Ever
by [Shz] [neutrinos_shadow, Jan 13 2020]

Hydrogen trapped in wax https://www.ncbi.nl...rticles/PMC5069496/
[2 fries shy of a happy meal, Jan 14 2020]

Oxygen Candle https://en.wikipedi...rator#Oxygen_candle
[Voice, Jan 14 2020]

Air ionizer https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_ioniser
[Voice, Jan 14 2020]

Superoxides https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superoxide
[Voice, Jan 14 2020]

Article discussing ion release from beeswax candles http://www.peapickl...of-beeswax-air.html
Embedded "one well-researched article" link still available via archive.org [Loris, Jan 14 2020]

[link]






       So, a bit like <link> ?   

       [suggested-for-removal], not really an innovation.
8th of 7, Jan 12 2020
  

       I suppose this device is related to a candle follower but if you actually read the description of both you will see that they have different forms and also different functions.
pocmloc, Jan 13 2020
  

       OK, so // they have different forms and also different functions //, but apart from that, they're exactly the same, right ?   

       Both are made from metal. Both are intended to improve the combustion performance of candles. Both are intended for use by humans.   

       Identical, shirley ?
8th of 7, Jan 13 2020
  

       By that metric, an oxygen tank is also identical.
pocmloc, Jan 13 2020
  

       Of course it is ... at last, the light dawns.   

       We were warned that this was the "slow" class, but not actually informed that it's easily outpaced by continental drift ...
8th of 7, Jan 13 2020
  

       From the title I thought this was going to be a candle that released oxygen as it burns, like maybe from hydrogen trapped in the wax.   

       Sort of a cross between a candle and a rocket stove?
I'm not clear on how the metal/ceramic tube is able to continuously supply the candle flame with air as it burns down.
  

       //...that released oxygen as it burns, like maybe from hydrogen trapped in the wax.//
:Boggles
Loris, Jan 13 2020
  

       //:Boggles//   

       Good :Boggles... or bad :Boggles?   

       It would work wouldn't it?
Tiny bubbles of hydrogen whipped into the wax as it cools would be trapped and should ignite only as slowly as the wax itself burns releasing oxygen rich water vapor.
If the hydrogen storage wax was beeswax then by releasing negative ions into the air to bind with toxins and help remove them it would somewhat purify the air as well.
  

       Anyway, that's what I pictured from the title.   

       //It would work wouldn't it?//   

       Um...   

       //Tiny bubbles of hydrogen whipped into the wax as it cools would be trapped and should ignite only as slowly as the wax itself burns releasing oxygen rich water vapor.//   

       Hydrogen gas /might/ be trapped. But if so, when burned it would convert oxygen gas (O2) into water (H2O), according to the overall formula 2(H2) + O2 -> 2 (H2O).
Possibly with a squeaky pop.
  

       So if you want to increase the amount of oxygen gas in the air, I think it would perform a non- zero amount of work... unfortunately in the negative direction.   

       //If the hydrogen storage wax was beeswax then by releasing negative ions into the air to bind with toxins and help remove them it would somewhat purify the air as well.//   

       This sounds very much like complementary medicine.
Which is aptly named using the logical sense of the word 'complement', i.e. negation.
Loris, Jan 13 2020
  

       You just need to use better candles. See linky for prior halfbaking.
neutrinos_shadow, Jan 13 2020
  

       // better candles //   

       ... thermite ... <Manic giggling/>   

       // releasing oxygen rich water vapor.//   

       What [Loris] said. Why not make the candle from special healing crystals charged with Odic force for enhanced ley-line activation ?   

       BorgCo have a special offer this week on dream catchers, stones with holes in them, etheric sterilizers, oija boards and dowsing rods. See our online catalog for details. Log in using your email address, major credit card details, and Special Discount Code "CREDULOUS MORON, PLEASE ROB ME BLIND" to access your special offers.
8th of 7, Jan 13 2020
  

       //... thermite ...//   

       They're a bugger to light, bright and sparky for a few seconds - but then the birthday cake is ruined.
Loris, Jan 13 2020
  

       Who cares about the cake ? The flame's the thing ...
8th of 7, Jan 13 2020
  

       //I'm not clear on how the metal/ceramic tube is able to continuously supply the candle flame with air as it burns down.//   

       Well that was meant to have been addressed by the idea text.   

       Its the combination of the metal or ceramic tube, which draws air from the base of the candle up to above the top of where the candle used to be before it burned down a bit ... bear with me.   

       The challenge as I saw it was to direct the air from the top of this too-tall tube to wherever the base of the flame was an any perticuler moment.   

       This idea uses the top hat shaped thing to sit over the tube and direct the air downwards and through the vent holes to the base of the flame.   

      
. . . . ------
. . . . I . . I
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. . . . I . . I
#. . . I I I I . S . . . . . . #
#. . . I I I ' . S . . . . . . #
# .. oI I I io .S . . . . . . #
#####I I###s#######
#####I I###s#######
#####I I###s#######
#####I I###s#######
#####L=========== <= air in
pocmloc, Jan 13 2020
  

       //Both are made from metal. Both are intended to improve the combustion performance//   

       Feels like we're just slowly moving toward an 1880's hot blast oil lamp design.
bs0u0155, Jan 13 2020
  

       No, now it all becomes clear, thanks to the wonderfully concise technical drawing [poc] has provided.   

       The genius of the idea is using a deuterated paraffin wax moderator combined with hafnium control rods and lithium alloy jacketed thorium fuel elements, cooled by silicone oil infused with sage, verbena and lavendar. In the event of thermal runaway, the moderator simply melts and is washed away; being immiscible with the coolant it can be simpy solidified and re-used.
8th of 7, Jan 13 2020
  

       Well ugh, I don't understand again then.   

       //Hydrogen gas /might/ be trapped.//   

       Okay first if I'm reading this [link] correctly then yes, hydrogen gas can be trapped in something as simple as wax.   

       //But if so, when burned it would convert oxygen gas (O2) into water (H2O), according to the overall formula 2(H2) + O2 -> 2 (H2O). Possibly with a squeaky pop.//   

       So... a squeaky humidifying candle then? Cool.   

         

       ////If the hydrogen storage wax was beeswax then by releasing negative ions into the air to bind with toxins and help remove them it would somewhat purify the air as well.////   

       //This sounds very much like complementary medicine. Which is aptly named using logical sense of the word 'complement', i.e. negation.//   

       Ah. Surprising that the myth is prevalent enough in society to have crossed my path. Beekeepers talk about it like its been known for a very long time.   

       O3 and O1 are harmful pollutants. They may bind to other things in the air but they'll also bind to things in your body that you don't want them binding to.
Voice, Jan 14 2020
  

       // Beekeepers talk about it like its been known for a very long time. //   

       Some beekeepers talk to their bees, or rather to their hives, since bees are a collective organism. That suggests that they attribute to the hive an analytical and intellectual capacity similar to their own.   

       That's probably about right, actually.
8th of 7, Jan 14 2020
  

       //Ah. Surprising that the myth is prevalent enough in society to have crossed my path.//   

       That's kind of how myths work. At some point a claim is made, perhaps on erroneous or scanty evidence, out of spite or just for a joke. Then some people with an axe to grind or a vested interest propagates it, and eventually the belief is accepted because it's widespread.
Wikipedia is great for that, because journalists look at it and don't necessarily check very hard - and once it's in a newspaper wikipedia editors will cite the article as a source, locking in the error.
  

       On the basis that I am fallible I did a quick google search to see what there was, and it looks like the internet mostly backs me up. I've added a link to an article that I think has a respectable approach.   

       //Okay first if I'm reading this [link] correctly then yes, hydrogen gas can be trapped in something as simple as wax.//   

       Looking at the "Hydrogen trapped in wax" link you provide, I don't think it says what you claim. They're producing hydrogen gas from wax by chemically breaking it down. If you're planning on just burning all the wax and the released hydrogen anyway then this won't help you at all.   

       //Beekeepers talk about it like its been known for a very long time.//   

       Hey, I used to keep bees. Only small-scale, as a hobby. Does that make me more of an authority?
Loris, Jan 14 2020
  

       It makes you the halfbakery's current expert authority on beekeeping.   

       That's probably not something you should consider in any way significant, or tell anyone else about though.
8th of 7, Jan 14 2020
  

       I took a course on it last summer. I had heard the myth before that time and the negative ions from beeswax candles binding with particulates in the air was actually taught during the class.
The teacher was South African and would go off on tangents about how all North American bees are technically Africanized killer bees now.
  

       Or is that a myth as well? If I hear something on the street, I take it with a grain of salt. If I hear that same something coming from a professional teaching a course on the subject, I figure it's safe to leave that morsel unsalted the second time around.   

       You skeptics are rubbing off on me. Like soon I won't even be sure that I am just because I think.   

       Yep, I recon it's almost time to start collecting cans so I can cast a custom aluminum helmet and chain-mail Faraday suit.   

       Don't forget to fully protect those all-important bodily orifices from the Reticulant's biomedical probes ... either that, or carry lots of paper tissues for when your eyes start watering.
8th of 7, Jan 14 2020
  

       // O3 and O1 are harmful pollutants. They may bind to other things in the air but they'll also bind to things in your body that you don't want them binding to. //   

       Reactive oxygen species != negative ions   

       // tangents about how all North American bees are technically Africanized killer bees now. Or is that a myth as well? //   

       If the teacher was including all North American bees in "all North American bees", then it's very false. We have lots of bumblebees and carpenter bees, and probably other kinds too. If only domesticated bees, or only those that produce honey or wax, I don't know.   

       Edit: changed proper not equals sign, which is unsupported, to "!="
notexactly, Jan 15 2020
  

       Come to think of it he did make the distinction that our 'honey production' bees are Africanized hybrids.   

       hmmmm...   

       To the Internet!   

       <tad bit later>   

       Okay... what a fuster cluck.
Sorta true and not true, like most things.
Here's a snippet for the currious;
  

       "The Africanized honey bees in the Western Hemisphere are descended from hives operated by biologist Warwick E. Kerr, who had interbred honey bees from Europe and southern Africa. Kerr was attempting to breed a strain of bees that would produce more honey and be better adapted to tropical conditions (i.e., be more productive) than the European strain of honey bee currently in use throughout North, Central and South America. The hives containing this particular Africanized subspecies were housed at an apiary near Rio Claro, São Paulo, in the southeast of Brazil, and were noted to be especially defensive. These hives had been fitted with special excluder screens (called queen excluders) to prevent the larger queen bees and drones from getting out and mating with the local population of European bees. According to Kerr, in October 1957 a visiting beekeeper, noticing that the queen excluders were interfering with the worker bees' movement, removed them, resulting in the accidental release of 26 Tanganyikan swarms of A. m. scutellata. Following this accidental release, the Africanized swarms spread out and cross-bred with local European colonies."   

       Humans, eh ? Give 'em a chance to screw up, and guess what ....
8th of 7, Jan 16 2020
  
      
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