• Vespair
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    30
    arrow-down
    2
    ·
    1 year ago

    You understand that the reason we make candles out of wax is because it’s a solid fuel, right? The same reason candles work is the reason wax paper isn’t oven safe.

    • jasondj@ttrpg.network
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      17
      ·
      1 year ago

      A lot of people think that the wick itself is the fuel. I only recently realized that it’s “wicking” up melted wax, and the wax itself is the fuel.

        • Vespair
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          20
          arrow-down
          1
          ·
          1 year ago

          It breaks my heart that examining and understanding the world around you is the kind of thing people disparage

      • Vespair
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        9
        ·
        1 year ago

        Yeah, I recently learned that most people are totally misunderstanding candles when Hank Green had to do a whole series on “where does the wax go?” on tiktok. Blew my mind that it wasn’t obvious to everyone.

        • _jonatan_
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          6
          ·
          1 year ago

          If someone had asked me “what percentage of people know how candles work?” I would probably have answered something like “95% of those over the age of 5”. This is very disconcerting. Not that candles are terribly important, but just the lack of reasoning.

          • zalgotext@sh.itjust.works
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            4
            ·
            1 year ago

            Is it really that weird to not fully understand how candles work? They’re rarely used nowadays if you have electricity, and it’s not exactly the most intuitive - I mean wax melts, and reveals more wick, and the wick is the thing you set fire to, so I don’t think it’s that weird to think the wick is burning.

            • _jonatan_
              link
              fedilink
              arrow-up
              2
              arrow-down
              1
              ·
              1 year ago

              I would assume people goong “ok, so the wick burns but what is the purpose of the wax? Oh it’s the fuel duh”

    • Gamey@feddit.rocks
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      2
      ·
      1 year ago

      I play with candle wax since I am four years old and it’s always shocking to me how little many people understand about the world around them!