I have always been interested in water vortexes. The way the water flows around a central opening that extends deep into a liquid abyss is something that is mystical in nature. The sheer power behind the water and the way the light refracts off of the opening and down the column of air is a natural phenomenon that I could stare at for hours.
Along these same lines, when a fire is trapped inside a swirling tornado of air, the way the flames rise up to incredible heights and swirl around each other is a fascinating display of light.
For this project I propose to combine the 2 aspects of a water vortex and a fire tornado into one art piece. I want to design a figure that has a water vortex swirling around a glass walled cylinder, and inside of the column of air created by the vortex is a tornado of fire.
To implement this there are a few key components that need to be working. The first challenge will be to create a water vortex inside of a glass cylinder. To achieve this I plan to use a fairly high powered water pump that injects water into the bottom of the tank. As the water flows into the tank the water level will rise and create a spinning affect inside the tank. At the same time a hole in the bottom of the tank will allow the water to drain into a tank hidden from view where the pipe pulls from.
While the water is spinning up I have 3 ideas for how to implement the fire aspect. My first idea involved running a tube of propane gas into the bottom of the tank and allowing the rising gas to create the flame. The swirling affect of the water hopefully creates an airflow that will create the fire tornado and extend the flame to the top of the water. This will allow the fire to continuously exist without having to worry about a long term fuel source.
My second idea involves using rubbing alcohol to create a low temperature alcohol flame in the bottom of the tank. This would involve filling a small metal tub with ethanol that is then lowered into the tank and lit on fire. Then as the water fills the tank the tornado will form.
My final idea involves making the entire water mixture out of an ethanol water mixture so the actual surface of the water lights on fire and hopefully carries itself down the vortex. This method may not be ideal however as the fire tornado will not really form and it will use much more ethanol.
As an extension I hope to create some interesting visuals with either colored glass/mirrors inside of the tank, or possibly coloring the water with a photo-sensitive pigment or a temperature sensitive pigment. This will give the water some interesting affects but may mask the appearance of the flame.