HELP!!!!

[scisci]

I'm doing a science experiment and need help. My question is "Does the temperature of a candle affect its melting rate?" I' lighting one candle that was in the freezer one in hot water and one in its box.
~ I'm trying to measure the temp. of the candle and it isnt working. What kind of thermometer would work?

if you could help me with my problem it would be great. Thanks!

[deleted-71827]

Hi,
So the best way to do this (as recommended by the National Candle Association) is to just compare the candles that you have refrigerated with ones at room temperature:

http://www.candles.org/scienceprojects.html

This way, you can circumvent the use of thermometers because it would be quite hard to use a thermometer to measure a solid candle wax. On the other hand, there are thermometers you can use if you melted the candle wax...but that would be a separate project! Hope this helps!

[scisci]

Thanks, some info really helped but my teacher says i MUST be able to know the temp of the candle ... i can for the warm one but the cold and room temp candles are too low for the thermometer i have. What kind thermometer do you think would work? Thanks again!

[aelin]

Hi,

If you leave an object in an environment long enough, it will equilibrate to that temperature, so instead of measuring the temperature of the candle in its different surroundings, it might be wiser to measure the temperature of the surroundings themselves. So for example, leave the candle in the freezer and measure the temperature of the freezer (digital thermometers exist for this type of work, or find a freezer that is set at a particular temperature, -20 C for example). Measuring solid wax itself might be more difficult, and the temperature readings you get by measuring the surroundings will be more or less accurate if you leave the candle in there for a few hours.

Hope this helps!
Aaron

[scisci]

Thank you!! that really helped!