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Flame tests

Which metal is it? Burn a sample and read the colour — if you can see it.

SchoolLive

Scientific learning path

  1. 01UnderstandLive
  2. 02ExploreLive
  3. 03ExperimentLive
  4. 04ObserveLive
  5. 05ExplainLive
  6. 06ApplyLive
  7. 07TestBuilding
Explanation mode
Sample

Description of this simulation

Barium burns with a flame a chemist would call apple green. Its strongest visible line is at 553.5 nanometres.

BaBarium
What a book calls it
Apple green
Strongest visible line
553.5 nm

Lines contributing

  • 553.5Ba
  • 524.2Ba

The colour on screen is computed from the measured wavelengths, not picked from a palette. It is the usual approximation to the eye response, so it is qualitatively right rather than photometric.

What this model shows — and what it simplifies

Educational Model

Wavelengths are the strongest persistent lines from the NIST Atomic Spectra Database.

Where do we see this in real life?

This is how sodium street lamps get their colour, how a firework is tinted, and how a laboratory identifies an unknown salt before reaching for an instrument.