Title: local flame temperature
Long Title: IUPAC Gold Book - local flame temperature
DOI: 10.1351/goldbook.L03603
Status: current

Definition
The effective thermodynamic temperature in the observation space as measured by a specific sensor for a specified element (in \(\rm{K}\)). The temperature of a flame (or other plasma) is not homogeneous. It is usually lower at the borders of the flame. It is therefore appropriate to speak of an effective temperature which represents an average value of all temperatures throughout the observation space. The flame temperature depends on several factors such as: kind of plasma, kind of gas or gas mixture and concentration gradient of the thermometric species in the observation space.

Related Terms
- concentration gradient: https://goldbook.iupac.org//terms/view/C01227
- thermodynamic temperature: https://goldbook.iupac.org//terms/view/T06321
- thermometric: https://goldbook.iupac.org//terms/view/T06329

Source
- PAC, 1986, 58, 1737. 'Quantities and units in clinical chemistry: Nebulizer and flame properties in flame emission and absorption spectrometry (Recommendations 1986)' on page 1741 (https://doi.org/10.1351/pac198658121737)

Other Outputs
- html: https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/L03603/html
- json: https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/L03603/json
- xml: https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/L03603/xml

Citation: Citation: 'local flame temperature' in IUPAC Compendium of Chemical Terminology, 5th ed. International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry; 2025. Online version 5.0.0, 2025. 10.1351/goldbook.L03603
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Accessed: 2026-04-27T15:59:38+00:00