The black smoke that yesterday 07 May and today 8 May escaped from the chimney on the Sistine Chapel is the signal with which the church announces the failure to election of the new pontiff at the end of a voting session. But how is it produced? What is burning to get that dense and dark smoke?
According to the declarations by Father Federico Lombardi during a press conference and from the information on the stove of the Conclave published in 2005, in the Sistine Chapel there are Two stoves: one older stoveround shape, which is used to burn the cards containing the votes of the cardinals, and one more modern stove designed specially To increase the visibility of the smokes. In the modern stove a cartridge of size 25x15x7 cm, containing 5 officeswhich are activated one after another through a electronic device. Each charge lasts about 1 minutefor a total of 5 minutes production of black smoke.
The chemical composition of the mixture that produces the black smoke would include:
- Perchorato di Potassio (kclo₄): oxidant agent capable of triggering the partial combustion of anthracept;
- Antracene (c₁₄h₁₀): an aromatic polycyclic hydrocarbon burning producing the black smokewhich we remember being an aerosol made up of small solid particles;
- Zolfo (S): an element that contributes to making combustion more vigorous, as it is easily oxidable to sulfur and sulfurist andride.
However, it is important to specify that, unfortunately, the manufacturer or the exact type of smoke is not known. The information reported comes exclusively from the declaration of Father Lombardi, and there is no absolute certainty regarding the composition and origin of the material. In addition, it is information regarding in the 2005 conclave and we do not know if changes have been made in these 20 years.
In any case, the components mentioned are absolutely plausible, given that there are similar substances in industrial black smoke bombes, such as chlorate potassium and coal.
If you want to know more about the functioning of the conclave, here you will find one of our interesting videos.
