Comment by e12e
10 years ago
Ah, fond memories of playing with candles. Make enough "wick" of thin metal wire, and at some point the flame will boil off gases from the candle/pool of melting paraffin wax. At this point, cheap glassware will likely crack from the heat -- spilling hot wax over the table, likely igniting it - best advice is to quench the flame before it gets to that. Or so I've heard.
Fun fact: standard cheapo tea lights make great fire lighters, because they burn reliably and provide a static heat source for a long period of time. Put one under a piece of wood and it'll most likely catch fire eventually.
A short time later the wax in the tea light melts. Than it boils. Then you get (briefly) a pillar of flame...