Does fire weight anything?

Question

I've always wondered could a flame actually weight something? Has any experiment been done to prove or disprove this?

Answer 1

A couple of ways to answer this.

It doesn't weigh anything cos it's light.

A flame is the presence of combustible gases that are of sufficient temperature above their  "flash point" to emit energy at several wavelenghs including those within the human perception of heat and light.

The gases do weigh something....but nothing "grate"

Answer 2

I don't think so. Haha.

Answer 3

Yes, fire contains particles of matter.

Answer 4

a flame is the energy released from a chemical reaction so no cos its just light.

Answer 5

It all depends on what you mean by "fire" and what you mean by "weight" - sorry to be pedantic but it does.

The burning fuel obviously weighs something (set fire to a log, and weigh it) the flame itself is actually caused by gasses escaping from the log burning, releasing energy in the form of heat and light. - and the gases weigh something too. (When burning coal the coal can burn at a lower tempreture than the realesed gasses - which is why you get heat but no flame)

The energy doesn't weigh anything - BUT the equation e = mc^2 provides a relationship between energy and mass - so theoretically all energy does have a mass that it could be converted to, including flame