What is a Bunsen burner?

A Bunsen burner is a gas burner consisting of a tube with a small gas jet at the lower end and adjustable air inlet by means of which the heat of the flame can be controlled. It is used in laboratories and produces a hot non-luminous flame it the air and gas mixture is about three parts air to one of gas. The inventor of the burner was Robert Wilhelm Bursen (1811-1899), a German chemist, although Michael Faraday (1791-1867), the English physicist and chemist had previously designed a burner that worked on very much the same general principle.

Over the years several varieties of Bunsen burners have been made with improvements in the control and mixing of the air and gas, giving greater heat and enabling different sizes of flames to be obtained. There are devices for spreading the flame and numerous fittings are made to go on the top of the tube for holding retorts, test tubes, etc.
Burners may be constructed to burn coal gas, oil gas, acetylene or natural gas.