I was thinking about this today, and it is not as trivial as it sounds. So far I have come up with three possibilites:

1. You are depriving it of Oxygen so it runs out of fuel.

2. You are moving the heat away from the candle so that it no longer has the neccesary energey required for activation.

3. Mositure from you breath cools the flame so that it extinguishes.

9/10/2011 2:06:42 PM

the atoms run faster than the man and create nothingness

9/10/2011 2:07:38 PM

4. Drowning it

9/10/2011 2:10:09 PM

It's definitely not the first one. Blowing on fires of sufficient size only fuels them.

[Edited on September 10, 2011 at 2:11 PM. Reason : ]

9/10/2011 2:10:43 PM

5. You're fucking stupid

9/10/2011 2:11:20 PM

No one has come in here and saved the day yet

9/10/2011 2:14:53 PM

9/10/2011 2:15:55 PM

http://www.newton.dep.anl.gov/askasci/chem00/chem00829.htm

[/thread]

9/10/2011 2:18:45 PM

Quote :

"You must understand that the flame needs three things to burn: 1) Fuel, 2)Oxygen or Oxidizing Agent, and 3) Heat which form a Chain Reaction. Interrupting the chain reaction in any why will put out the fire. This is how fire extinguishers work. Fuel - If you remove the fuel (say the candle wax which under heat produces a flammable vapor) the fire will go out - a hard blow will do this, Oxygen - Cover the candle with a jar. As the oxygen level goes down (the flame uses it up) the flame will go out - a hard blow of CO2 will help the above step, Heat - As the flame goes out because of the above two conditions, it does not relight because the heat drops without the flame. "

also,

magnets?

9/10/2011 2:21:14 PM

Can someone explain to me how magnets work?

Preferably a non-scientist.

9/10/2011 2:22:01 PM

banjoman = geniusxboy

9/10/2011 2:24:48 PM

Because Jesus's love?

9/10/2011 2:25:09 PM

You dumb fuck, it's not you blowing out the candle, it's the butterfly on the other side of the world flapping its wings that is putting out your candle.

9/10/2011 2:26:31 PM

Bill O'Reilly wants to know how tides work.

9/10/2011 2:28:24 PM

Quote :

"banjoman = geniusxboy blackjesus"

FIFY

9/10/2011 2:44:48 PM

lol doc rambo ftw

9/10/2011 2:48:41 PM

The candle will take off.

9/10/2011 2:52:21 PM

Quote :

"lol doc rambo banjoman ftw"

9/10/2011 2:59:07 PM

The hot air from your breath raises the temperature of the surroundings such that the direction of maximum entropy is for the flame to "snuff it."

Er, right.

9/10/2011 2:59:38 PM

I trust this guy ^

even though I still don't trust the D- that I got the first time I took his class

9/10/2011 3:06:47 PM

^Epic burn.


Wait.... burn? ....Burn?

9/10/2011 3:09:02 PM

Quote :

"The hot air from your breath raises the temperature of the surroundings such that the direction of maximum entropy is for the flame to "snuff it.""

I don't get it, the entropy change should not be effected because CO2 is still generated. AND, how is the temperature of my breath hotter than the flame?


[Edited on September 10, 2011 at 3:16 PM. Reason : rf]

9/10/2011 3:09:13 PM

^

Its explained here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pfzv3bf9-OY


Go Ritchie!

[Edited on September 10, 2011 at 3:19 PM. Reason : ..]

9/10/2011 3:17:47 PM

This was a good question BanjoMan.

Don't let the unthinking keep you from.

9/10/2011 3:18:51 PM

haters gonna hate

BTW, how does gazoo only have 4oo something post?

9/10/2011 4:16:02 PM

Because he's only posted 400-something times.

9/10/2011 4:22:17 PM

Quote :

"Can someone explain to me how magnets work? Preferably a non-scientist."

Sure! As someone that believes in the supernatural, all magnets were created by the intelligent designer such that twelve angels from heaven were placed in the positive magnets, and 12 demons from hell were placed in the negative magnets. Now, being that the negative magnets were evil, the two sides were destined to fight each other for the rest of eternity. Hence, the opposite charges attract each other.

9/10/2011 4:23:06 PM

^Thank you.

+1 Rep.

9/10/2011 4:24:45 PM

Quote :

" Because he's only posted 400-something times."

I probably laughed harder at this than I should have

9/10/2011 9:57:41 PM

9/10/2011 10:25:53 PM

Candle flames are spherical in zero g environments

9/10/2011 10:43:17 PM

IBT "how does blowing out an asshole work?"

9/10/2011 10:49:03 PM

Like it was mentioned, you need heat, fuel, and oxygen to create a fire, and a self sustaining reaction to maintain the fire.

If you blow on a fire, you are affecting it in two ways. First, you are utilizing convection to greatly cool the fire. Secondly, you are adding a mixture of mostly carbon dioxide to the fire (yes there is some oxygen but the carbon dioxide is the dominant factor). So essentially you are reducing two of the three sides of the fire triangle - you are lowering the temperature and depriving the fire of oxygen by replacing it with carbon dioxide.

9/11/2011 1:16:21 AM

what's actually burning in a candle is the paraffin wax vapor. when you blow on the flame, you disperse the vapors (fuel) away from the wick (heat source), breaking up the "fire triangle" mentioned above^



[Edited on September 11, 2011 at 2:09 AM. Reason : just like blowing out a lighter]

9/11/2011 2:06:20 AM

Quote :

"the atoms run faster than the man and create nothingness"

Lullz

9/11/2011 4:06:17 PM

The fire loses the will to burn.

9/11/2011 4:34:31 PM

Quote :

"Secondly, you are adding a mixture of mostly carbon dioxide to the fire (yes there is some oxygen but the carbon dioxide is the dominant factor)."

Sorry, man, but I can't let this fly. My sources (Google) tell me inhaled air is around 21% O2 and 79% N2, and exhaled air is about 18% O2, 78% N2, and 4.0% CO2. How is carbon dioxide the "dominant factor"? If such a huge percentage of your exhaled gas was CO2, you'd suffocate a lot quicker. Haven't you seen Apollo 13?!

Also, how did this thread make it to Day 2?

[Edited on September 11, 2011 at 5:05 PM. Reason : ]

9/11/2011 5:04:20 PM

it only requires 10% of Co2 in the air to be considered dangerous and deadly.

Quote :

"Candle flames are spherical in zero g environments"

i.e. The Sun...

9/11/2011 8:03:45 PM

[quote]
THE

FUCKING

PLANE

DOES

NOT

TAKE

OFF!!!!

JESUS CHRIST IT'S SIMPLE SCIENCE

9/11/2011 8:57:40 PM

[Edited on September 11, 2011 at 9:28 PM. Reason : oops]

9/11/2011 9:28:25 PM

Quote :

"it only requires 10% of Co2 in the air to be considered dangerous and deadly."

Which means you'd have to inhale and exhale all of the available air in a finite space 2.5 times. Compare lung volume to room volume.

9/11/2011 9:44:52 PM

OMG my mind was just blown with the comment about the sun...

IT ALL MAKES SENSE NOW!!

9/11/2011 9:51:34 PM

i always burn out after i get blown.

9/11/2011 9:53:03 PM

^_^ lol

9/11/2011 9:55:05 PM

Does the candle blow out faster if your breath is really bad?

9/11/2011 11:02:25 PM

You blow it out.

9/11/2011 11:12:14 PM

^Not in Soviet Russia.

9/11/2011 11:16:00 PM

cause the candle blows on you?

9/11/2011 11:24:15 PM

Obviously.

9/11/2011 11:25:47 PM

neccesary energey

9/11/2011 11:31:40 PM