![]() For black, it uses a mixture of potassium perchlorate, anthracene and sulphur white comes from potassium chlorate, lactose and the conifer resin called rosin, which is often rubbed on violin bows to increase friction. The Vatican has now revealed what these are. Rather, the smoke in some previous elections came out an ambiguous grey, prompting the decision for the last conclave in 2005 to use a more reliable method based on chemical ingredients. ![]() It’s not concern for the environment that has led the Vatican to change its ways, however. Traditionally the Vatican produced the different colours by burning wet straw for white and tarry pitch for black.Īnyone who has ever made a bonfire knows that damp grass will work for the former the less responsible of you will know that chucking old tyres or roofing felt into the flames will turn the smoke black – and what’s more, noxious, because it is then full of sooty carbon particles that can clog the lungs and are potentially carcinogenic. But to colour it white or black, this smoke is mixed with that from chemical additives burnt in a second stove. The smoke comes partly from the burning of ballot papers in a special stove in the chapel. But now all eyes are on the copper chimney of the Sistine Chapel, from which the release of black smoke signals that the 115 cardinals voting to choose the new pope have not yet reached the two-thirds majority needed to secure a decision. Before this week, “fumata nera” and “fumata bianca” meant little to most people outside Italy. There’s something almost poignant in the way the Vatican has had to resort to chemistry to get its archaic method of communicating the papal election results to work properly: science helping to sustain a tradition from a distant age.
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