Fire and Ice: a heat of fusion demonstration

Heat of fusion isn't a terrifically exciting concept to demonstrate. Usually it involves melting or freezing of water. Oooh....ahhhhh....zzzzz

But the use of the heat of fusion (or latent heat of fusion, maybe) to start a fire is pretty outstanding.

To explain the concepts...

• paraffin absorbs energy from the blowtorch or Bunsen burner 
• paraffin melts and starts to boil, releasing paraffin vapors (highly flammable, paraffin vapors)
• the ice water beaker is lifted to quickly cool and solidify the paraffin wax
• the paraffin wax had absorbed energy in the process of melting (heat of fusion)
• that energy is released when it solidifies again (reverse of heat of fusion)
• that released energy is enough to set the paraffin vapors on fire

How frickin' cool is that?

And messy, too...how frickin' messy is that?

Check out another version of the same demonstration...