The Chemical History of a Candle

The Chemical History of a Candle
By Michael Faraday
With Introductions by E.N. da C. Andrade and Sir Arthur Thomson
Cherokee Publishing Company, 1993
158 pages; paperback; $15.00

Michael Faraday, perhaps the greatest experimental scientist of all time, essentially created the science of electrochemistry. He laid the foundations of the electric power industry, discovered electromagnetic induction, and converted electrical force into mechanical force. Faraday also developed the first electric motor, the electric generator, and the dynamo. Also a brilliant theorist, Faraday developed the concept that magnetism was one of the fundamental forces of nature. He was the principal architect of the classical field theory later developed by Maxwell and Einstein.

The lectures in this book were addressed to a group of young people at the Royal Institution in London in 1860. Faraday chose “The Chemical History of a Candle” as his subject because, he explained, “There is not a law under which this universe is governed which does not come into play and is not touched upon in these phenomena.”

With clarity and eloquence Michael Faraday opens the door to the mysterious world of chemistry and makes it come excitingly alive. The wonderful thing about his approach is that, from beginning to end, it remains with the observed phenomena and never enters into hypothetical conjectures. These lectures are a prime example of experimental science at its best.

Contents
Introduction
Foreword
Lecture 1. A Candle: Source of the Flame
Lecture 2. A Candle: Brightness of the Flame
Lecture 3. Products: Water from Combustion
Lecture 4. Hydrogen in the Candle
Lecture 5. The Nature of the Atmosphere
Lecture 6. Respiration and its Analogy to the Burning Candle