THE KEROSENE LAMP 



you increase or decrease the amount of air which was passing through 

 the chimney and past the flame? Hold the lamp up before you and 

 blow strongly into the bottom of the burner. What is the effect upon 

 the flame? Is it a case of too much air or not enough? 



Wrap a towel about the base of the burner so as to prevent air's 

 entering through the perforated base. What 

 is the effect upon the flame? If you could 

 see only the upper portions of the chimney 

 could you be certain from the behavior of the 

 flame whether too much or too little ah- was 

 entering the burner? 



Place a piece of cardboard or window 

 glass for an instant on the top of the chim- 

 ney so as to close it. What is the result? 

 What is the effect upon the flame of having 

 too little air? What is the effect of having 

 too much air? What do you think is the 

 chief purpose of the burner and chimney? 



Kerosene burns just as freely without 

 the use of a burner or chimney. This 

 can be easily shown by placing 

 some , kerosene in a tumbler 

 and covering the tumbler 

 with a sheet of tin in which 

 a slit has been cut by means 

 of a cold chisel. An ordinary 

 ' lamp wick is drawn into the 

 slit as shown in Fig. 7. In 

 this case, however, the flame 

 .will be smoky and unsteady 

 no matter how still the air in the room may be. 



Evidently, the chief purpose of the burner and chimney is 

 to regulate the air supply. If the air supply be either too abun- 

 .dant or too scarce the flame will be unsteady and smoky. We 

 shall see later why this is so. We shall also study later the 

 principle by which the burner and chimney regulate the air 

 supply. 



9. How Kerosene Burns. Just as we proved that it was 

 not the liquid paraffin which burned in the case of the candle, 



FIG. 6. Parts of the 

 burner. 



FIG. 7. 

 Burning 

 kerosene 

 without a 



burner. 



