bunsen burner

Bunsen burner   n.  A small laboratory burner consisting of a vertical metal tube connected to a gas source and producing a very hot flame from a mixture of gas and air let in through adjustable holes at the base. [After Robert Wilhelm Bunsen.]

Main Entry: Bun·sen burn·er
Pronunciation: 'b&n(t)-s&n-"b&r-n&r
Function: noun
: a gas burner consisting typically of astraight tube with small holes at the bottom where air enters and mixes with the gas to produce an intensely hot blue flame
Bunásen /'bun-z&n/, Robert Wilhelm(1811–1899), German chemist. Bunsen is credited with a number of discoveries and inventions. In 1834 he discovered that freshly precipitated, hydrated ferric oxide is an antidote forarsenic poisoning. The most famous of his inventions, the Bunsen burner, was actually a minor refinement of inventions by Aimé Argand and Michael Faraday. Bunsen introduced his version in 1855.

Bunsen burner Bun·sen burner (bŭn'sən)
n.
A small laboratory burner consisting of a vertical metal tube connected to a gas source and producing a very hot flame from a mixture of gas and air let in through adjustable holes at the base.

Bunsen burner   A small gas burner used in laboratories. It consists of a vertical metal tube connected to a gas fuel source, with adjustable holes at its base. These holes allow air to enter the tube and mix with the gas in order to make a very hot flame.

Bunsen burner

device for combining a flammable gas with controlled amounts of air before ignition; it produces a hotter flame than would be possible using the ambient air and gas alone. Named for Robert Bunsen, the German chemist who introduced it in 1855 (from a design by Peter Desdega or Michael Faraday), the Bunsen burner was the forerunner of the gas-stove burner and the gas furnace. The Bunsen burner consists of a metal tube on a base with a gas inlet at the lower end of the tube, which may have an adjusting valve; openings in the sides of the tube can be regulated by a collar to admit as much air as desired. The mixture of air and gas (optimally about 1 part gas to 3 parts air) is forced by gas pressure to the top of the tube, where it is ignited with a match. It burns with a pale blue flame, the primary flame, seen as a small inner cone, and a secondary, almost colourless flame, seen as a larger, outer cone, which results when the remaining gas is completely oxidized by the surrounding air

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