| The candle flame is the whole reason for the existence of the candle. The light given off by a candle allows us to see through the darkness; it creates romantic or nostalgic ambience for our living spaces. In our holy places the candle flame symbolizes our faith and devotion. We find calm or vigor from aromatic essences released by the heat of the flame in scented candles. One might find oneself mesmerized by the intoxicating glow of the flame of a candle. A fascinating thing is a flame, dancing on the end of the wick of a candle, beckoning us to wonder and marvel at its existence. What is it? How does it give off its light? Fire is a strange thing. It may be difficult to understand, but what we perceive as the flame of a candle is not truly fire at all, rather it is an effect of fire. Actual fire is virtually invisible to the naked eye. It is intense heat created by a chemical reaction. The light we see, as what we call a flame, is the luminescence of substances which are super heated but not burned. Like a when a blacksmith works a horseshoe made of iron he has removed from hot coals, the iron glows bright orange but is not on fire. Elements passing through the flame of a candle glow brightly in the heat of an invisible fire. The typical, bright, yellowish-orange upper part of a flame is due to the heating of unburned carbon particles. The temperature of the fire and the material being burned are the factors that determine the color of the flame. The various colors of flames in a wood fire are due to the different substances in the flames. The strong orange color of most wood flames results when sodium contained in the wood is heated. The temperature of wood flames is lower than that of candle flames, which colors the wood flames orange, not yellow. If, however, some of the carbon particles in the fire are very hot, the color will be yellow. The product of the burnt carbon, when it has cooled, is black soot. Since fire needs oxygen to burn, and since the bottom of a candle flame does not get much oxygen, it is the hottest spot in the flame and is blue in color. The flame cools and changes color as it moves away from the source of the flame, because it is exposed to more oxygen. The temperature change causes the color of the flame to change from blue, at the hottest, lower portion of the flame, to the typical, bright, yellowish-orange or bright orange color with which most people are familiar with. Which shade of orange is seen at the upper portion of the flame, where the flame is the coolest, depends upon the material being burned. | 
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