Science...How Does It Work?

[Meggiewegs]

Forgive my obviously uneducated question here. I just don't understand.

I recently burned my silica wick while doing a dry burn and just can't wrap my head around how it happened.

The liquid travels through the wick to the coil and is heated with the atomizer. (Stop me if I'm wrong here) The coil gets hot enough to vaporize the liquid.

Why doesn't it just burn all the time? Why did my particular dry burn, which I followed all directions for watching the smoke/coil and waiting for the smell to go away, not work correctly?

And how is it possible to use cotton for this? Isn't it more likely to burn than silica?

Someone get me Bill Nye.

 

[xpen]

No wick will ever burn as long as it's wet, not even organic wicks like cotton (within reason). The evaporating e-liquid keeps the wick relatively cooler, so that it can't burn up. Physics 101

But if you do a 'dry burn' you're exposing the wick to much higher temperatures: the coil will survive, the wick ultimately won't.

Even synthetic wicks like silica can and will be damaged by excessive heat, even though they're supposed to resist well beyond 1,000 degrees Celsius (1,800+ F).

 

[Topdogie01]

the liquid keeps the wick cool enough it does not burn when in use. kind of like if you fill a paper cup with water and hold a flame under it the paper will not burn until the water is boiled out.

 

[Jimi D.]

By dry burning, the coil has lost most of it's resistance. At that point it will just glow red. No matter how much juice is applied.

 

[Meggiewegs]

Eh, it makes sense. I just don't see why dry burning seemed to be such a widespread and effective method of cleaning the coils. I just overdid it. But I saw no sign of overdoing it.

 

[heateris]

Eh, it makes sense. I just don't see why dry burning seemed to be such a widespread and effective method of cleaning the coils. I just overdid it. But I saw no sign of overdoing it.

You have to pulse. 2-3 seconds at a time. That will protect the wick.