The color of the smoke depends on the material that is burning.

Natural materials such as

1.unfinished wood will change to tan or brown colored smoke,

2. plastics and painted surfaces appear to be grey in color.

However, black smoke can appear grey when it is mixed with moisture from other heated materials.

White smoke can often mean material is off-gassing moisture and water vapor, meaning the fire is just
starting to consume material. White smoke can also indicate light and flashy fuels such as grass or twigs.

Thick, black smoke indicates heavy fuels that are not being fully consumed. At times, black smoke can be
an indicator that a manmade material is burning such as tires, vehicles or a structure. As a general rule,
the darker the smoke, the more volatile the fire is.

Grey smoke can indicate that the fire is slowing down and running out of materials to burn

Material burned Flame temperature

Charcoal fire 750–1,200 °C (1382-2192 °F)

Methane (natural gas) 900–1,500 °C (1652-2732 °F)

Bunsen burner flame 900–1,600 °C (1652-2912 °F) [depending on the air valve, open or close.]

Candle flame ≈1,100 °C (≈2012 °F) [majority], hot spots may be 1300–1400 (2372-2552 °F)

Propane blowtorch 1,200–1,700 °C (2192-3092 °F)

Backdraft flame peak 1,700–1,950 °C (3092-3542 °F)

Magnesium 1,900–2,300 °C (3452-4172 °F)

Hydrogen torch Up to ≈2,000 °C (≈3632 °F)

MAPP gas 2,020 °C (3668 °F)

Acetylene blowlamp/blowtorch Up to ≈2,300 °C (≈4172 °F)

Oxyacetylene Up to 3,300 °C (5972 °F)

Material burned Max. flame temperature (in air, diffusion flame)[4]

Animal fat 800–900 °C (1472-1652 °F)

Kerosene 990 °C (1814 °F)

Gasoline 1,026 °C (1878.8 °F)

Wood 1,027 °C (1880.6 °F)

Methanol 1,200 °C (2192 °F)

Charcoal (forced draft) 1,390 °C (2534 °F)

Temperature examples

Candle flame – The hottest part of a candle flame burns at around 1400°C, while the average
temperature is usually 1000°C.

Wood fire – A household wood fire burns at around 600°C. Temperature can change depending on the
type of wood and its condition.

Bonfire – The temperature of a bonfire gradually heats up to around 600°C, but bonfires can reach 1000-
1100°C.

Bunsen burner – A bunsen burner is adjustable, with safety flames measuring around 300°C. Fully open
bunsen burners can reach 1500°C, with piercing blue and white flames visible.

Burning match – For such a small flame, a household match burns at around 600-800°C.

Propane torch – Combustion of propane and air is roughly 1900°C. A butane fire will have a similar
temperature

Blue flameThe color of a flame depends on the material being burned. There are lots of fuels that will
produce blue flames when burned; the most commonly available one in the household is natural gas.
You can look at the flame on the stovetop (if your stove uses natural gas) or furnace to see a pretty blue
flame (don't get too close! These are hot!). Natural gas, or any other pure hydrocarbon such as butane or
propane will burn a light blue.
Yelow flameSome flames are yellow because of the presence of a small amount of sodium atoms in the
fuel. Sodium atoms glow yellow very brightly when they are heated; yellow light is their very favorite
color to emit (this particular shade of yellow is called the "sodium D line" because of the electron orbits
involved in the sodium atoms before and after the light is emitted). Sodium street lights are very very
yellow for this reason.

the colors of flames in a wood fire are due to different substances in the flames. The bright orange of
most wood flames is due to the presence of sodium, which, when heated, emits light strongly in the
orange. The blue in wood flames comes from carbon and hydrogen, which emit in the blue and violet.
Copper compounds make green or blue, lithium makes red.

The colder part of a diffusion (incomplete combustion) flame will be red, transitioning to orange, yellow,
and white as the temperature increases as evidenced by changes in the black-body radiation spectrum.
For a given flame's region, the closer to white on this scale, the hotter that section of the flame is. The
transitions are often apparent in fires, in which the color emitted closest to the fuel is white