Unlike a candle kept near an open window and burning with a turbulent flame and with unpredictable flow patterns, a candle burning in a quiet room has a stream of hot air rising up in laminar (or organized tightly layered) sheets of smoothly varying velocities, they give a typical shape to flame called as Laminar shape. Convection Current, Buoyancy, Gas Diffusion and Gravity play different roles in the shape formation, where gravity is the dominant factor; in the absence of gravity, a flame shape will spherical instead of laminar.
The animation explains the process in a clear and lucid manner; it is very easy for the students to understand the process through the animation. |