Are you asking this because of the green flame on a hob meme that was posted recently?
this post was submitted on 01 May 2026
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Yes the one in the science memes community. The idea popped in my mind
Thought as much!
In response to your question, I've got a chinesium jet lighter with metal over the jets that turns the flame purple.
Not sure if that's the answer you were looking for though
I have heard of lighters with cosmetic colours! I think Hacksmith had (or has? Unsure if it was a limited time event or not) little bits to change the colour of their mini lightsaber lighter.
I was thinking more functional usecases for it though, yeah. Like you know that A equipment is certified to do B thing (heating or something, idk) because it has this colour of fire, or it's used to show that this fire is a specified temperature (for specific applications that need it, then you can just say the distinct colour of fire vs "reddish", "whitish", and "blueish" flames)
What about the flames of a gas fire in a home?
Bluish - tepid Reddish - warm Whitish - flat out
I was thinking more artificial fire colours (like the distinct purple fire could mean it is suitable to burn X thing, or the green fire can melt Y thing easily). I was also thinking of using colours to indicate the safety of certain fires (some fires are more dangerous than others), or to give colour to what would be colourless fires.
What purpose would this serve? The temperature rating on my, stove… if my stove can’t handle its own ability to make heat no colored flame is going to make that a usable item. I just don’t see how a colored flame would be better than appropriate labeling and signage.
Fair enough. I just think it would look pretty cool!
People used to use a broom to detect hydrogen fires in (scientific) equipment. The fire normally being hard to see. I'm told that you would wave the broom around the equipment and when it burst into flame you'd found your fire.
Spectrometry seems closest to what you're asking for (studying composition through light frequencies), it can be done to a fire but you don't usually resort to fire for testing substances unless it was already going to burn. For stuff like fuels you wouldn't really do that except for calibration purposes (calculating what the mixture and temperature is and how to adjust it) and even that is so rare I haven't heard of it in use (but some searches show dyes are in use for this although not through burning).
Methane gas is given an additive to produce an odour to detect leaks, but the blue flame is just from burning methane.
I don't see a practical application. You can buy powders that color camping flames but that's just a toy.