Click a thumbnail picture below to view a larger version.

View Movie

Narrative
Glycerin is dropped onto piles of coarsely and finely ground potassium permanganate. Oxidation occurs almost immediately with the fine permanganate giving a purple flame. Oxidation occurs much more slowly with the coarse reagent. Rates of chemical reactions are accelerated by increasing the surface area of solid reactants. The oxidation reaction is exothermic enough to ignite the glycerin. The violet potassium flame is observed.