Why does fire seem to have no shadow?...

Why does fire seem to have no shadow? Place a candle in front of a wall and shine a light at it. The candle makes a shadow. The wick makes a shadow. But the flame almost disappears. That feels strange, because everything should block light… right? Here is the trick: a shadow forms only when an object blocks light travelling from another source. But a flame is not a solid object. It is mostly hot, transparent gases. Light passes through it instead of being completely blocked. And because the flame itself is producing light, it brightens the same region where its shadow would normally appear. But fire can create a shadow. Use a very powerful light source, brighter than the flame, and suddenly you may see a faint, moving shadow. This happens because the hot air inside the flame bends light, while smoke and tiny particles absorb and scatter it. So fire does not truly have “no shadow.” Its shadow is simply hidden by its own light.