How to use a Bunsen burner. Fire! How to use a Bunsen burner.

Bunsen burner

The Bunsen burner, used for heating laboratory equipment and chemicals The Bunsen burner, used for heating laboratory equipment and chemicals. The flame can reach temperatures of 1,500°C/2,732°F and is at its hottest when the collar is open.

Bunsen burner

The invention of the burner is attributed to German chemist Robert von Bunsen in 1855, but English chemist and physicist Michael Faraday is known to have produced a similar device at an earlier date. A later refinement was the metal collar that can be turned to close or partially close the airholes, thereby regulating the amount of air sucked in and hence the heat of the burner’s flame.

Bunsen burner

Gas burner used in laboratories, consisting of a vertical metal tube through which a fine jet of fuel gas is directed. Air is drawn in through airholes near the base of the tube and the mixture is ignited and burns at the tube’s upper opening.

To light your burner

Controls can be in different places on burners Controls can be in different places on burners. For the two on the right, use the wall valve to control the gas.                                                              

1. Shut the air control                         .

2. If the burner has its own gas control valve, shut it and then open it a small amount.                          

3. Open the wall valve. (On burners without separate gas controls, only open it a little.)                                                       

4. Carefully light the burner with the striker.                             

The initial flame is low on oxygen and not very hot.                          

5. Open the air control until the central blue cone forms 5. Open the air control until the central blue cone forms. If the flame is too small, add a little more gas and then a little more air                               .

The hottest part of the flame is just above the central blue cone The hottest part of the flame is just above the central blue cone. (There is no combustion inside the central cone.)                    

6. Be sure to close the valve on the base and the wall valve when done                                                       .