User blog:Glflegolas/Playing with Fire -- Making coloured flames

About a day ago, I got to play around with an oxy-hydrogen torch, that burns at around 3200 oC. I made some solutions of various metal salts, such as NaCl, KBr, Sr(CH3COO)2, CuSO4, and put these solutions into the hot flame. When I did this I got some beautiful colours.

Some of these emission lines, such as Na, K, Li, and Cu, you may have seen in fireworks. Sr can be seen in road flares. But I'm sure you haven't seen all these flame colours.