How to extinguish a candle with malachite

Malachite just needs to be mixed with one more component!

Safe­ty pre­cau­tions

At­ten­tion! All ex­per­i­ments are per­formed by pro­fes­sion­als. Do not at­tempt.

Process de­scrip­tion

When sul­fu­ric acid is added, mala­chite dis­solves, form­ing cop­per(II) sul­fate, wa­ter, and car­bon diox­ide. Car­bon diox­ide does not fa­cil­i­tate com­bus­tion, so it can ex­tin­guish a can­dle! When mala­chite is heat­ed to a high tem­per­a­ture, black cop­per(II) ox­ide and wa­ter va­por form. This re­leas­es car­bon diox­ide again – that's why we see it bub­bling!

A safer ver­sion of this ex­per­i­ment is in­clud­ed in the “Min­er­als” set from the MEL Sci­ence sub­scrip­tion.

Try it