What radiation does a candle flame emit?

Question

I've tryed using the search engines to answer this question but I guess I don't know the right search words :P I want to know the benifits of candle light as far as how it copes with your biology. Like how your body adjust itself to the lighting of the sun to generate more of chemical x when your in sunlight. Well Would candle light be the best light source when going to bed in about an hour or less? I want details! :P

Answer 1

Light from a candle is fundamentally different from sunlight.  Sunlight is blackbody radiation (filtered through the atmosphere).  Candlelight is the result of line emissions from soot.

Google "candle flame spectra"

google "sunlight spectra"

for more information on what the difference between the two imply as far as the light from each.  

The bottom line is sunlight contains far more shortwave photons than candlelight.  I don't think candlelight causes the body to generate any vitamin D, for instance.  There isn't enough blue in candlelight.