Land Without Color Science Fair

Candle Race
by: Princess Aurora
Candles are a very popular decoration that many people use for various reasons. People use
candles for ambience, for electricity and sometimes because they like the way the candle smells. There
are many different brands of candles, from local store brand names to larger names such as Yankee
Candle Company. It's very rare to go into a person's home and not find a candle even if it's ust used as
a decoration and has never been used. !or that reason, I decided to do a science proect based on the
burn rate of candles. "ince they are such a popular item, I decided it would be educational to learn
more about them. #o all candles burn at the same rate$ #o some brands candles burn faster than other
brands$ #o certain colors burn faster than others$ "ometimes, I have a candle that will last for hours
and then another time, the same si%e candle will ust get melted up in the wa& and go out after an hour.
There were many different avenues scientifically to go when trying to e&periment with candles. I
decided to narrow it down to the speed of which a candle burns.
"o my scientific 'uestion is( #o colored candles burn faster than white candles$
)y hypothesis is( #espite some research that shows that white candles burn faster than colored
candles burn at, I hypothesi%e that there is no significant difference between white and colored candles
speed of burning.
*ariables(
Independent variable is the color of the candles.
#ependent variable is the rate that it burns.
"ome e&periments and research have shown that white candles burn faster than colored candles.
+https(,,mwvsciencefair.wikispaces.com,do-color-or-white-candles-burn-faster./!0. )any
researchers felt that since white candles have no dye in them, they would burn slower than colored
candles and hence attempted the e&periment with the hypothesis that white burns slower, which in the
above e&periment proved not to be the case, the red candle burned slower than the white one. 1ther
studies have shown that colored candles burned faster than the white. +http(,,www.all2science2fair2
proects.com,science3fair3proects,/4,567,dd85f9e5f:bc8d;<:9/;dc/ce:/8;a<b.html=anchor8<6;:/0
>owever, I don't think color as anything to do with it, I believe other factors are the reason as to
why some candles burn faster than others, so I set out to hypothesi%e that all candles of the same si%e
and same brand burn e&actly at the same rate of speed regardless of the color.
)y materials included(
8 small candles +white, red, blue, green and orange0
ceramic plate
playdough
scissors
a lighter
a stopwatch
a notebook and pen
measuring tape
The e&periment goes as follows. I first covered the ceramic plate with playdough evenly so that
the candles could sit in the playdough safely and not have wa& spilled all over or have the candles fall
over, it was their base. Then I measured the wick of the candles to make sure they were all the same
si%e. If they were not the same si%e, I trimmed the wicks until they were all the same si%e. I then used
the measuring tape to mark each candle in the same spot, so I knew where to burn to on each candle.
Then I placed each candle into the playdough base and lit each candle one at a time. I waited until each
candle burned down to the mark in 'uestion and timed it with the stop watch. ?hen the candle burned
to the mark in 'uestion, I stopped the stopwatch, blew the candle out and moved onto the ne&t candle.
The order of candles I burned was white, then orange, then red, then green and finally blue.
The results were very surprising. The white candle burned for 85 minutes, the orange candle for
7< minutes, the red candle for /<, the green candle for /5 and the blue candle for /6 minutes. I gave
myself a margin of five minutes above or below the baseline of the white candle for matching results.
>owever, clearly, the candles all burned at different times and the range is a full 5: minutes from the
longest candle to the shortest candle. +see graph0
I didn't observe any differences in the burning of the candles, I attempted to keep conditions as
close as possible for each burning candle, for e&ample there was no fan running or any other type of
wind to change the flame of the candle at all. The one difference I did notice is that although the
candles were all the same brand name and I cut the wicks to matching lengths, the wicks were not in
the same place for each candle. !or e&ample, with the white candle, the wick was in the middle of the
candle, whereas with the colored candles it was more off center. ?hether or not this is the cause of the
different burning times, I do not know but it is an observation to be considered for future e&periments.
In conclusion, I did not prove my hypothesis that all candles of the same color burn at the same
rate of time. @ven with the window of five minutes, the time difference between the white candle and
the green candle is too significant to prove my hypothesis. A future e&periment using the wicks as the
the basis of the e&periment would most likely prove fruitful in determining the timing of which type of
candle burns the fastest.
Bibliography(
http(,,www.all2science2fair2
proects.com,science3fair3proects,/4,567,dd85f9e5f:bc8d;<:9/;dc/ce:/8;a<b.html=anchor8<6;:/
http(,,candles.lovetoknow.com,#o3?hite3Candles3Burn3!aster3than3Colored3Candles
http(,,www.sciencebuddies.org,science2fair2proects,proect3final3report.shtml