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Coloured flame and corrosion

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Technical / Moves >> Technical Discussion

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Sabine
member
Member #650
Reged: 19/09/01

127372

Coloured flame and corrosion find similar
21/09/01 09:59 AM

Morning all,
I'm just getting into the staff fire-twirling thing - a friend of mine put me up to it. I was playing around with coloured flames using copper (II) nitrate and cupric chloride (seperately) for blue and green. The problem is that my aluminium staff appears to be corroding. It appears that the copper has plated out onto the surfaces closest to the wick and the plating has a pink/red (like copper oxide corrosion) appearance. Has anyone else had this problem?
Sabine

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NYC
Newbie Wrangler

Member #552
Reged: 26/08/01
Loc: NYC, NY, USA
127373

23/09/01 12:07 AM

Well I wasn't going to reply because I don't really know. Then I felt bad that no one replied so here goes...

If it's a DEPOSIT of salt its no problem. Any salt solution will evaporate into the salt itself. It should flake off when you pick it and leave the aluminum untouched underneath.

If it's actual CORROSION then it's attacking the aluminum in your staff and that could compromise the integity of the staff. I have heard warnings to the effect of "pick a color you like because it will stay in the wick indefinately." I know some salts stay in my Bunsen burners FOREVER.

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Sabine
member
Member #650
Reged: 19/09/01

127374

24/09/01 09:48 AM

Thanks for the reply NYC. Yes the salt stays in your wick - I light with straight meths or kero and I still get green. I even get the green comming out of the wick into the fuel. Although I lent my staff to someone who wanted red (lithium chloride) so I now have multicoloured flames on my fire staff and all the problems that go with....
Happy twirling
Sabine

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NYC
Newbie Wrangler

Member #552
Reged: 26/08/01
Loc: NYC, NY, USA
127375

24/09/01 10:09 AM

Fortunately all of the salts that you're using ARE water soluable. So if you really get sick of them you can just wash/soak it for a while, then let your wicks dry and you SHOULD be good to go. Salts can be stubborn though...

If you went to lamp oil you'll probably have nice orange flames again as lamp oil contains sodium and burns a nice orange that the fuels you're talking about don't.

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Well, shall we go?
Yes, let's go.
[They do not move.]

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