Re: What instrument will measure the flame temperature of various compounds?

Dear Mark - First order of business - BE VERY CAREFUL!!!!!! What you are 
working with hase the potential to be very dangerous.  Do the work only 
with a qualified adult supervisor.  Be certain the the work is performed 
in a fume hood to minimize the chances of out of control fires.  Also have 
safety equipment at hand such as a fire extinguisher.  I recommend that 
you wear a full face shield while performing any experiments of this 
nature.  Again - BE VERY CAREFUL!!!!

Two ways come to mind on measuring the temperature in a flame that can be 
accomplished with minimal complexity.  IF you have access to a pyrometer 
you can put a wire in the flame and measure the black body temperature of 
the wire with the pyrometer.  As the wire will be at the same temperature 
as the flame you will then know the temperature of the flame.  A pyrometer 
works by comparing the shade (color) of red of a heated wire of known 
temperature to the color of the unknown heated wire.  You may be able to 
borrow a pyrometer from an industrial site if you have any contacts with 
technical people in the industry where you live.

The other approach is to place a thermocouple in the flame and read the 
temperature from the thermocouple.  A thermocouple thermometer is made by 
joining (twisting together) two dissimilar metals.  A company that deals 
with temperature measurements and has an excellent technical section to 
their catalog is Omega Corp.  They have all of the supplies you need to do 
your measurement.  You can request a free catalog from their website.  The 
expense of the the equipment may preclude you from using their products.  
I assume that your science teacher may have some contacts in industries in 
your area and you may be able to borrow the equipment to read temperatures 
from thermocouples from a local industry or even your schools maintenance 
department.  OMEGA offers some of there catalog on CD-ROM.  At the web 
page http://www.omega.com/pdf/temperature/Z/zsection.asp you will find 
download in PDF format that will tell you much more about practical 
temperature measurements labeled "Practical guidelines for temperature 
measurements". Download that paper and I think it will help you and your 
teacher to put together what you need.  E-mail me if I can clarify 
anything in the Omega reference.