Fun fact: Some red flames are so cool that they’re tough to spot with the naked eye, but those 800-degree flames will burn a rosy red color.Īs you can tell, there is a direct link between the heat of a flame and the color that a fire burns. Still, flames of this temperature can melt aluminum, pure silver, tin, lead, bronze, and brass. This may sound like a high temperature, but compared to the 1650-degree blue flames, red flames are pretty mellow. Although red may be a typically fiery color, it’s not the hottest flame, with temps hovering at around 600 to 800 degrees Celsius. While violet flames can sear the toughest substances, red flames, which are the coolest, are not so powerful. This is why you might spot flickers or blue or violet when you’re gathered around the campfire. It’s also important to note that violet and blue flames are also produced by the carbon and hydrogen that are present in burning wood. (Though welders wear protective goggles to keep from burning their eyes from the light.) For this reason, you can often spot violet and blue flames at the end of welding torches. At over 1,650 degrees Celsius, violet flames’ high temperatures can slice through nearly any metal, glass, or rock with ease. The ordinary color spectrum of fire spans the range of relatively cool to very hot, which is represented by the acronym ROYGBIV in relation to the color spectrum:ĭespite its icy hue, the hottest color of flame is violet. When flames appear in different colors, they are responding to both heat and chemicals. For example, red has the longest wavelength, while violet has the shortest. We’re able to perceive different colors because of their varying wavelengths. Colors, as we know them, appear as a result of light passing through a prism. The visible light scale consists of any electromagnetic radiation that the naked human eye can view. Additionally, not all fire exists on the visible light scale. First off, fire is a chemical reaction that happens following combustion when chemical and gas molecules interact with oxygen. To understand what causes different-colored flames, it’s important to understand the science behind visible light and fire. What Causes Flames to Be Different Colors?

Color spectrum