Big day on Tuesday

On Tuesday I'm going to American Girl Place with my 9 year old niece Sommer. Should be fun. We'll see how it goes.

On a completely different topic, I was thinking the other day about smoke color. Why? I have no idea. I think I was driving somewhere and saw some smoke and wondered: is that an accidental fire or a controlled, intentional fire? This particular fire turned out to be a car on the side of the road, so I'm guessing it was accidental. However, it did lead me to notice the color of the smoke.

Have you seen anyone putting out a big fire (like a downtown building)? The smoke goes from black to white as the firefighters coat the fire with water. Is it black to white or white to black?? That was my question. Well, I was correct initially: white smoke is burning less efficiently than black smoke which means a fire that is being put out will throw off white smoke.

Here's some support from Slate.com:
What makes some smoke white and other smoke black?The type of fuel and how hot it's burning. In general, a hotter fire will convert more fuel into elemental carbon, which forms into tiny particles that absorb light and appear in the sky as black smoke. A cooler combustion—or one that doesn't work as efficiently—yields less-pure forms of carbon. These tend to reflect light, making the smoke look white.