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Flaming 'Blue Whirl' Could Be Used In Fuel Spill Cleanup (sciencenews.org)
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Science News: An unfortunate mix of electricity and bourbon has led to a new discovery. After lightning hit a Jim Beam warehouse in 2003, a nearby lake was set ablaze when the distilled spirit spilled into the water and ignited. Spiraling tornadoes of fire leapt from the surface. In a laboratory experiment inspired by the conflagration, a team of researchers produced a new, efficiently burning fire tornado, which they named a blue whirl. To re-create the bourbon-fire conditions, the researchers, led by Elaine Oran of the University of Maryland in College Park, ignited liquid fuel floating on a bath of water. They surrounded the blaze with a cylindrical structure that funneled air into the flame to create a vortex with a height of about 60 centimeters. Eventually, the chaotic fire whirl calmed into a blue, cone-shaped flame just a few centimeters tall, the scientists report online August 4 in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The soot-free blur whirls could be a way of burning off oil spills on water without adding much pollution to the air, the researchers say, if they can find a way to control them in the wild. You can view the clean-burning 'blue whirl' here.
The difference is that spontaneous fire tornadoes are pretty chaotic and inefficient. Red and yellow fires with lots of partially burned hydrocarbons. These folks are excited because they've managed to arrange an airflow around the fuel that results in much more complete combustion, hence a blue flame like in your furnace or stove.
Oh I know the difference. Just pointing out the awesomeness that is nature which can create A FIRE TORNADO! Seriously the first time I saw one I was too in awe to unroll the firehose.