Spectra and Latent Energy in Flame Gases

Abstract

AFTER flame has travelled through an inflammable gaseous mixture the gases remaining are not merely hot CO₂, etc. They emit luminous radiation for a long time (if their temperature is kept up), their temperatures as determined by the sodium line reversal method are too high, and they have associated with them a long-lived latent energy which amounts to a considerable proportion of the heat of combustion. The evidence for this has been summarised in a recent article in the Engineer¹.