In 1860, British physicist Michael Faraday gave the last in a
series of Christmas lectures at the Royal Institution, on the
chemistry and physics of flames, eventually published as a
popular book, The Chemical History of a Candle. It seems like
such a simple thing, but even today, over 150 years later,
scientists understand very little about the complex processes
taking place within even a simple flame. In fact, it's a very
active area of research, as evidenced by papers presented at a
recent meeting of the American Physical Society's Division of
Fluid Dynamics, held November 20-22 in Baltimore, Maryland.
Using detailed computer simulations, physicists have been
studying one critical transition in particular that could not
only improve safety in industrial settings, but could also shed
light into the mysterious processes behind Type 1a supernovae.
There are several types of supernovae. The Type 1a variety
doesn't form as the result of the explosion of a massive star.
Instead, it develops via the destruction o