One of my favorite demos! (Even wrote a paper on it, once, in an earlier
life - AJP Sept 1983)
You have a great deal of flexibility in how it's constructed. Ours is of
galvanized, threaded pipe about 7' long, I've seen them made from aluminum
drain pipe, even plexiglas (though you need brass or steel inserts to keep
the flame from melting the pipe!). I believe there are specifications for
one version in the classic Harry Meiners "Physics Demonstrations" tome. One
can even make them circular, with the speaker mounted "side saddle" - a neat
conceptual demo for Bohr orbitals.
*********************************************
"It's hard to be religious when certain
people are never incinerated by bolts of
lightning."
- Calvin
********************************************
George Spagna
Department of Physics
Randolph-Macon College
P.O. Box 5005
Ashland, VA 23005-5505
phone: (804) 752-7344
FAX (804) 752-4724
e-mail: gspagna@rmc.edu http://www.rmc.edu/~gspagna/
-----Original Message-----
From: Dwight K. Souder [mailto:crvhs_dks@CRESTVIEW-RICHLAND.K12.OH.US]
Sent: Wednesday, March 13, 2002 12:14 PM
To: PHYS-L@lists.nau.edu
Subject: Flame Tube
Greetings everyone. Recently, I have been having my student bring in "junk"
to school that may be used for later on in the school year. One of my
students brought in several computer speakers that are about 3 inches in
diameter. I remember a while back, I saw a demo of something called a
"flame
tube", which was a long metal pipe with several small holes drilled into it.
The pipe is connected to a methane source. Either end of the pipe is sealed
with one side sealed with a speaker. When the gas is lit and the sound is
turned on and adjusted to create a standing wave, the flames will show this
according to their flame height.
Has anyone made anything like this? Can anyone make any recommnedations on
how to put one together?