--- title: The candle and what burning is — a lesson of Mova's school · trees and pragmatics description: «The candle and what burning is», a lesson of the chemistry course of Mova's primary school, sentence by sentence with dependency trees and pragmatics. It begins: A candle looks simple, but it is a little chemistry factory: the flame melts the wax, the liquid wax climbs the wick, turns into gas, and --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/chemistry/11-the-candle-and-burning/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [school](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/) / [Chemistry](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/chemistry/) / The candle and what burning is # The candle and what burning is Lesson 11 of the chemistry course of Mova's primary school: 17 sentences, each with its syntax tree and pragmatics. The lessons are written for Mova, and their agreed trees are part of Mova corpus 0.4 (CC BY-SA 4.0). How Mova does on its tests: [the lesson at school](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/school-run/chemistry/11-the-candle-and-burning/). - [0](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/chemistry/11-the-candle-and-burning/0/) — A candle looks simple, but it is a little chemistry factory: the flame melts the wax, the liquid wax climbs the wick, turns into gas, and the gas is what actually burns. - [1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/chemistry/11-the-candle-and-burning/1/) — Burning means a fuel joining with oxygen from the air and giving out heat and light; the wax becomes carbon dioxide and water vapour, which is why the candle gets shorter. - [2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/chemistry/11-the-candle-and-burning/2/) — Put a jar over the candle and the flame soon dies, because it cannot get fresh oxygen. - [3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/chemistry/11-the-candle-and-burning/3/) — Your body does the same reaction slowly and gently: it "burns" food with oxygen to keep you warm and moving, with no flame at all. - [4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/chemistry/11-the-candle-and-burning/4/) — A grown-up can show the parts of a flame, but flames are never a toy. - [5](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/chemistry/11-the-candle-and-burning/5/) — In a candle it is the wax gas that burns, not the solid wax or the string; a freshly blown-out candle can relight through its smoke. - [6](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/chemistry/11-the-candle-and-burning/6/) — A candle flame is blue at the bottom where it gets plenty of air, bright yellow in the middle where specks of soot glow, and darker at the tip. - [8](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/chemistry/11-the-candle-and-burning/8/) — A jar over a candle makes the flame go out because it runs out of oxygen; a bigger jar holds more air, so the candle lasts longer. - [9](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/chemistry/11-the-candle-and-burning/9/) — The water that rises in a jar over a candle in water is not only because oxygen is used up; the air in the jar also cools and shrinks. - [10](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/chemistry/11-the-candle-and-burning/10/) — Burning wax joins its carbon and hydrogen with oxygen and makes carbon dioxide and water vapour. - [11](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/chemistry/11-the-candle-and-burning/11/) — A cold plate held above a flame gets black soot: unburnt carbon from the yellow part of the flame; soot was once used to make black ink. - [12](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/chemistry/11-the-candle-and-burning/12/) — Breathing and burning are the same kind of reaction: food or fuel joins with oxygen, giving energy, carbon dioxide and water. - [13](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/chemistry/11-the-candle-and-burning/13/) — Trick birthday candles have a metal powder, magnesium, in the wick that catches fire again from the glowing wick. - [14](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/chemistry/11-the-candle-and-burning/14/) — Striking a match makes heat by friction; safety matches light only on the box strip, which holds red phosphorus. - [15](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/chemistry/11-the-candle-and-burning/15/) — Wood gives off gases that burn with flames; charcoal has already had its gases driven off, so it glows instead. - [16](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/chemistry/11-the-candle-and-burning/16/) — Burning charcoal gives off carbon monoxide, an invisible poisonous gas, so barbecues must never be brought indoors or into a tent. - [17](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/chemistry/11-the-candle-and-burning/17/) — An ordinary metal spoon does not burn in a flame, it only gets hot; very fine steel wool can burn because thin threads have so much surface. - ← previous: [Cooking is chemistry](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/chemistry/10-cooking-is-chemistry/) - next →: [Fire: what it needs and how to put it out](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/chemistry/12-fire-what-it-needs/) - ↑ back to [Chemistry](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/chemistry/)