Everyday Chemistry Bunsen Burners

• Most Bunsen burners have a mechanism to adjust the amount of air (and therefore of oxygen) that is mixed with the methane.
• If you light the burner with the air completely closed off, you get a yellow, smoky flame that is not very hot.
• As you increase the amount of air going into the burner, the flame becomes bluer, less smoky, and hotter.
• When you reach the optimum adjustment, the flame has a sharp, inner blue triangle, gives off no smoke, and is hot enough to melt glass easily.
• Continuing to increase the air beyond this point causes the flame to become cooler again and may actually extinguish it.