III. The electrical conductivity and luminosity of flames containing vaporised salts

The colour imparted to flames by the salts of an alkali metal is generally considered to be due to the metal existing in the state of incandescent vapour, but there does not appear to be any settled opinion as to the process by which the metal is set free from its salts. It is frequently assumed that the high temperature reigning in the flame dissociates the salt. There is, however, little, if any, independent evidence in favour of this view. Another explanation ascribes the liberation of metal to chemical decomposition. Thus, in the case of sodium chloride introduced into the flame of a Bunsen burner consuming coal-gas, it would be supposed that in the first instance the water vapour present would act in accordance with the following equation :— NaCl + H2 O = NaHO + HC1. The sodium hydrate (or possibly oxide) so produced would then be deprived of its oxygen by reducing gases (hydrogen, hydrocarbon, carbon monoxide) existing in the flame. A somewhat similar explanation would have to be applied to the flames of hydrogen, carbon monoxide, and cyanogen, though, in the case of the last two gases, the steps of the processes are still more hypothetical.