After a series of papers that appeared in the Journal of Chemical Education (Birk and
Lawson 1999; Glantz 1963; Krnel and Glazar 2001; Peckham 1993), the oxygen consumption
explanation for the candle experiment was demonstrated to be wrong. But the
wrong naive explanation that a partial vacuum is produced because of the consumption of
all the oxygen in the enclosed air continues being disseminated.