Sciencemadness Discussion Board

Bunsen burner on wire gauze with smaller ceramic diameter than vessel

dryhopmosaic - 18-6-2018 at 04:34

Title sums it up- I have a 5x5 wire gauze but the ceramic center is only 3.5 inches in diameter. Can I boil water in a 1L flask with a bottom of 4.5 inches in diameter without breaking it?

j_sum1 - 18-6-2018 at 04:48

Yup.


The gauze by itself without the ceramic is pretty good at dispersing the heat. A bit of ceramic to deflect the flame is ok but it is possible to use a gauze mat with no ceramic insert at all.
Actually it is possible to boil water in a beaker using no gauze mat at all. I have done it plenty of times and sometimes I have not broken anything.

Depends of course on the vigour of your Bunsen, the amount of heat stress you build up and the quality of your beaker. This last thing you won't actually know until after you have broken it.

dryhopmosaic - 18-6-2018 at 05:25

Quote: Originally posted by j_sum1  
Yup.


The gauze by itself without the ceramic is pretty good at dispersing the heat. A bit of ceramic to deflect the flame is ok but it is possible to use a gauze mat with no ceramic insert at all.
Actually it is possible to boil water in a beaker using no gauze mat at all. I have done it plenty of times and sometimes I have not broken anything.

Depends of course on the vigour of your Bunsen, the amount of heat stress you build up and the quality of your beaker. This last thing you won't actually know until after you have broken it.


Good deal, I figured I'd keep the flame low enough as to not disperse around the ceramic and directly onto the glass.

The flask itself is Corning Pyrex so the heat resistance is there- I've just seen a few posts on other sites of people who broke theirs by applying heat directly to the glass.

Thanks for your reply!