Australia's Science Forum

HELP
I need to put new wicks in the spirit lamps. The ones with the metal screw top and the wick is so big and I can't seem to get it in. Do I burn the wick first or cut it somehow?

Rosemary

You could try binding the end quite tightly with sticky tape and then threading it through

You could of course cut it on an angle then maybe dip it in the spirit eg: Metho and twist whilst pushing the wick through.

Another way you could try is to use a very small gauge knitting needle to push the wick through.

I have found thin, long knitting needles useful for all sorts of things!

Cheers

Robbie

I use a wooden skewer or a nail(the head part)
Matchstick

Excuse my ignorance, I have spirit lamps in the back of a cupboard here, never used ....... what do you use them for

Fill them up with different types of alcohols - propan-1-ol, pentanol, meths, eths, etc - weigh them, burn them to heat 100mL of water, and work how how much energy each type releases.

Thanks everyone for all your ideas I will try them all

Rosemary