<span>The wick merely transports some of the liquid up to where vaporizes.It is not part of reaction but it does affect the reaction rate greatly,so it is a sort of catalyst in that time.if you wrap the wick in the aluminum it will block the transport the wax and it will wither go out less or brightly</span>
People had asked this many times and that is why they came up with methods and standards that will answer these type of questions. You can look it up in the NIST or the National Institute for Standards and Technology.
