When a burning candle is exposed to sunlight, it casts a shadow on the window sill or on the wall in front of it. Interestingly, not only the outlines of the wax body are visible there, but also the flame itself, so are we dealing here with the shadow of the light? The process can be closely examined by looking through the flame at a small object. Then it turns out that flames have different levels of transparency at different points.
In the area of \u200b\u200bthe illuminated area in the middle, it is difficult to recognize an object lying behind. This area is the least permeable and is largely responsible for the darkness on the wall. On the other hand, the outer edge and the torch core surrounding the wick are semi-transparent and leave almost no opacity on the wall.
© H. Joachim Schlichting (Detail)
Flame break | A burning candle standing in the sunlight. On the white wall it can be seen that the shadow of the flame is surrounded by two vertical bands of light. Above the wick is a similar bright spot.
Surprisingly, there are not only darker regions on display, but also bright regions that appear more intense from direct sunlight. Two vertical lines illuminate symmetrically on both sides of the flame, and a similar bright spot can be observed in the region of the shadow of the wick. In particular, these amplifications indicate that we are dealing not only with a mere silhouette of a candle flame, but with a complex interaction of incident light with the hot environment.
“Alcohol buff. Troublemaker. Introvert. Student. Social media lover. Web ninja. Bacon fan. Reader.”