Sparkly Fire

This experiment creates sparkly, burning cotton balls. This experiment demonstrates oxidization as well as complete and incomplete combustion reactions. First, soak a cotton ball in meths, then roll it in iron and zinc powder. Then, BURN IT!

So there are three reactions at play here.

1.  The meths burning

2.  The cotton ball burning

3.  And the metals rapidly oxidising

The combustion of methylated spirits is what is known as a complete combustion reaction. This is because the only products are CO2 and H2O. Here is the balanced equation for the combustion of methylated spirits: 2CH3OH + 3O2→2CO2+4H2O. The cotton ball is also burning, but it is not a complete combustion reaction so it creates other products in the form of ashes, smoke and the charred remains. The final part of this is the metals burning. Both of the metals when heated become significantly more reactive with the oxygen in the atmosphere. This causes them to oxidise rapidly which we see as light and sparks.