Washington: Scottish scientists have claimed that candle flames contain millions of tiny diamond particles.
Researchers successfully removed particles from the centre of a candle flame for the first time and found that around 1.5 million diamond nanoparticles are created in the flame every second.
Dr. Wuzong Zhou, from the University of St. Andrews, in eastern Scotland, embarked on the study after a challenge from a fellow academic.
“A colleague at another university told me, ‘Of course no one knows what a candle flame is actually made of.’ I told him I believed science could explain everything eventually, so I decided to find out,” Fox News quoted him as saying.
Using a new sampling technique, Zhou and his PhD student Zixue Su successfully removed particles from the centre of the flame and found that it contained all four forms of pure carbon.
“This was a surprise because each form is usually created under different conditions,” he added.
ANI
First Published: Friday, August 19, 2011, 12:34