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Das mentioned using salt in a mantle lamp. I report an
unsuccessful experiment aimed at increasing the light output of a kerosene
wick lamp and a candle. Everybody who has learned chemistry in his school would
remember how a platinum wire dipped in salt solution and held in a gas flame
turned the flame from almost invisible blue to bright yellow. I thought
that the addition of a sodium compound to the kerosene would increase the lux
output of the lamp. (Lux is a psychlolgical measure of the light intensity,
based on the sensitivity of the human eye. The scientific measure is photon flux
or some such parameter). Ordinary salt was tried, but it did not dissolve
in kerosene. Soap was also tried, but that too did not dissolve satisfactorily
in kerosene. I then melted wax and soap together and made a candle out of
it, but it too failed to give a bright yellow flame. It is likely that one
needs higher temperature of the flame of a Bunsen gas burner to make sodium
shine! Or perhaps the soap was made of synthetic detergent and did not contain
any sodium!
A.D.Karve
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