As we near an end to our 'Great Fire of London' topic we decided to get investigating. We wanted to know why the Great Fire lasted so long - what kept it burning?
We discovered that a match doesn't stay lit very long because the little bit of wood in the match gets burned up very quickly. We also discovered that the birthday cake candle could stay lit because it had wax to keep the flame burning. Much to the delight of P3 we witnessed what happens when fire comes into contact with plastic - our plastic candle holder completely melted creating a mess and a TERRIBLE smell!!
Our final investigation involved covering a small candle with a glass. We found that after less than a minute the flame died! After much discussion we realised that the glass we THOUGHT was completely empty actually had air inside it but when we placed the glass over the candle the flame used up all the air and died when there was no air left.
We finished our investigation by watching a short clip of what happens to an unwatered Christmas tree. The watered tree was lit but simply smouldered due to the moisture in the branches. The dry tree however was completely alight and already destroying surrounding furniture in less than 30 seconds! A good reminder to all of us who enjoy a real tree at Christmas time - KEEP IT WATERED!!!
