Is Fire a Plasma?

Overview

Objectives This project determines if fire is a plasma by testing if a flame can carry an electrical current through an open gap. The flame is provided by a blowtorch. It is expected that when the flame is hot enough, (closest), the flame will be a plasma and will connect the circuit and the multimeter will show a conductive path. Methods Two alligator clips from a multimeter attach to washers clamping Tungsten filament (from a lightbulb) over an open gap of 2cm. A blowtorch is held at varying distances away. The distance is measured in centimeters and is determined from a ruler running from the base of the flame to the Tungsten filament. Results From nine or more centimeters away from the base of the flame, a plasma was not present. However, when the base of the flame was eight or fewer centimeters away from the Tungsten filament, the flame was hot enough for a plasma to be made and the multimeter to show a reduction in resistance. Conclusions In conclusion to this experiment, a flame can be a plasma where it is hot enough. When the Tungsten is zero to eight centimeters from the base of the flame, the flame creates the plasma environment. However, the relationship isn t proportional. This could be from the added resistance of Tungsten as a conductor caused by the heat of the flame. From nine or more centimeters away from the Tungsten filament, the flame is unable to produce a plasma because it is not hot enough.

Competition history

• CSEF 2019 Physics & Astronomy · Entry J1715

Resources

• CSEF project summary ↗

Related projects

Closest projects by meaning, across every fair and year in the corpus.

Browse more like this

• All Physics and Astronomy projects
• CSEF Physics and Astronomy projects
• Every CSEF 2019 project