Flame Test

We use a Bunsen burner to burn different chemical salts to see how the flame colour changes. This shows that sodium burns with a yellow flame, lithium burns with a red flame, barium burns with a yellow-green flame and copper burns with a blue-green flame. Chemistry - Periodic Table - Learning Points. Different metals burn with a characteristic flame colour. The colour of the flame is due to the loss of energy of excited electrons. All atoms emit light energy when excited electrons lose energy, but this energy is not always in the visible part of the spectrum. Noble gases are very unreactive, but give characteristic colours when electricity is passed through them. A Twig Experiment Film. Let students experience real experiments in lab conditions anywhere, from setup, method all the way through to analysis and real-world application.