Practical Uses of Zinc Oxidation Reaction: Fire and Smoke

[Soley101]

I have been working on carrying out a reaction in which i get zinc to oxidize creating fire and smoke. Does anyone have any ideas as to how this reaction can be useflul to society.. i want to show that even a weird little experiment like this really could have an effect on the world. For one, smoke is produced, and two a blue-green flame---what could this be used for in everday living :)

 

[Riogho]

If you have someone with a fetish for blue-green flame and smoke, I could see this going far.

 

[chemisttree]

If you were burning titanium instead of zinc, you might find that the smoke was nanosized titanium dioxide. That's pretty useful stuff.
What can zinc oxide be used for? If it is nanosized, when blended into creams, it will be transparent but still radio opaque. That suggests a new type of sunscreen without unsightly 'Bullfrog'-like masks. Zinc has also been used as a bacteriostat/bactericide. Nanosized zinc can lend these properties to products it is blended with such as paints and lacquers. This size of zinc also stays suspended longer and avoids settling in liquid formulations. As a bacteriostat, it can be blended into vanishing creams and used as a component in deodorant that doesn't leave white marks on clothing.

Zinc oxide is pretty useful stuff.

 

[lisab]

Are you thinking of this as an energy source?

If so, you would need to know how much energy is required to create the zinc oxide in the first place. If it takes an amount "a" of energy to create a gram of zinc oxide, but reacting a gram only gives "0.9 X a" energy back, it isn't an energy source -- it's an energy sink.

Sounds pretty, though.

 

[Soley101]

wow, these are some very interesting ideas I will have to look in to... how could i determine if this is however an energy source..i don't have any fancy equipment so where is a good place to start?