It was hypothesised that the longer the carbon chain of the alcohol, the greater the heat output and flame length would be. It was also hypothesised that the longer the flame length the less heat it would produce as there was not a focused point of heat output. The results that were gathered from the experiments did not support the hypothesis. Although this was the case, the results taken are still valuable in some ways. For example, it was noted that as the length of carbon chain in alcohols increased, the flame length decreased. This was quite fascinating. Further research into why this is the case could perhaps be beneficial. It was also discovered that increased flame length increases enthalpy of ethanol. This also provides further ares …show more content…
The experimental design itself was very crude when comparing it to an industrial standard. Although the aim of this experiment was not to create the most effective system, it no doubt would have helped with the accuracy of the results. While experimenting, doors and windows were left open allowing wind and draughts inside the room of the experiment either cooling the calorimeter or lowering the flame length. Precautions were taken to avoid this yet it could not be avoided by using a shield. The spirit burner wicks were all charred in some form or another which could have influenced the results as well. Once burned, the wicks also left residue inside the fuel being tested. Another factor that could have changed the results in a significant way was the possibility that the fuels were mixed. Fuels were not provided in separate bottles to individual groups as multiple groups of students were testing and thus fuels were shared. The risk here is that fuels could have been mixed in the ones used for testing, for example, ethanol could have been mixed with butanol influencing the enthalpy or flame length. It is unknown if this occurred in any manner and although it possibly could have not happened, it is still a possibility. Another experimental error that could have changed the results in some way was that the calorimeters need to be cooled down after heating. This was done using a tap to cool down the thermometer and …show more content…
For example, investigating the amount of carbon dioxide produced from burning the fuels. This could provide information of the efficiency of the burning of the fuel and also how eco friendly it is. Another research area is investigating the ratio of wick length affecting flame length.
By looking at the results, applications for the real world could be made. These include industries using longer flames when suitable to heat objects more efficiently by just increasing wick length. Another application could be to use alcohols like 1-pentanol and butanol to be used as fuel as they have the highest enthalpy compared to hexanol and ethanol. Fuels like ethanol or 1-propanol could be mixed with everyday petrol to increase energy output.
In summary, the results suggested that as the carbon chain increases in alcohols, the shorter the flame. The results also suggested that if the flame length increases, the enthalpy increases as well in a linear function. It can be said that the experiment that investigated whether the longer the carbon chain length would increase enthalpy is either invalid or not accurate. This can be the case as the theory should be correct as there are extra bonds that need to be broken which in turn will release more energy. Recommendation to improve the design to gather better results were made. Nevertheless, the experiment produced some results and provided further areas of research and
This smoke bomb lab helped me understand chemical bonding and reactions by starting from the very beginning with mixing the nitrate, sugar, and melted crayon. Mixing them formed a texture almost like powdery peanut butter with some liquid which was actually pretty interesting. The second chemical bonding I seen was that, once putting the solution in the tin-can and it started solidifying due to all the stuff we mixed together. It didn’t take long at all for it to start forming into a solid. When we went outside and lit the wick on fire showed the main chemical reaction throughout the whole experiment. The nitrate reacting with the lighted wick started a big fire in one of the groups cans but some of the other groups bombs didn’t get to light like it was supposed to and the wick just burned out. I was one of the groups whose bombs didn’t work properly. I think it’s because we didn’t put the wick in deep enough to our solution so when we lit it the fire just burned out before going into the solution.
Catching Fire: How Coooking Made us Human by Richard Wrangham is a fresh perspective on the evolution of humankind. Wrangham has made a concentrated effort to prove that humans have evolved particular adaptations, like bipedalism, due to the introduction of cooked foods into their diet. In his book, he is legitimately arguing that humans are the way they are because early on in human evolution, early man discovered fire, discovered the joys of cooked foods, and developed all sorts of fascinating traits still being utilized today.
Sun L. et al studied the thermal stability and fire retardant properties of wood flour/polypropylene composites containing magnesium hydroxide (MH), expandable graphite (EG), and ammonium polyphosphate(APP) as flame retardant. The results showed that both expandable graphite and ammonium polyphosphate promoted thermal degradation of wood flour and char formulation, and magnesium hydroxide did not influence on the wood flour decomposition. Cone calorimeter results indicated that EG showed the best properties on fire retardant and suppression smoke
If the length of the carbon chain within an alkanol is increased, then the heat of combustion will also increase due to a greater amount of intermolecular forces between molecules, as there are more carbon-hydrogen molecules being added to the homologous series. Thus the amount of energy required to break those bonds will be much higher, causing a greater amount of energy being released during the reaction. Therefore enhancing the mass of the hydrocarbon and change in enthalpy which will consequently increase the heat of combustion.
To gain reliable results we needed a temperature rise of 50 degrees centigrade in the quickest time. possible. Then we can do it. Using the Propanol burner with different volumes of water we. tested the flame at varying distances under the calorimeter measured.
EG, if the water was 23 degrees I would heat the water to 33 degrees. Make sure that the fuel is weighed correctly after experiment, and recorded. By doing these checks, it means that all the experiments will be fun the same. This means the test will all be fair. Prediction I think the more bonds in the alcohol molecule structure means that more heat energy will be produced when the bonds are broken and so less fuel will be used, as the heating temperature will be higher, so it will not take as long to heat.
= 3 ´ E(C-H) + 1 ´ E(C-O) + 1 ´ E(O-H) + 1.5 ´ E(O=O)
Stauffer, Nancy. ”MIT ethanol analysis confirms benefits of biofuels.” Laboratory for Energy and the Environment. January 2007.
... is flaws there is many advantages such as The renewability of biofuels in which allow unlimited resources, The Economic rising and slowly decreasing Foreign oil dependency, and best of all, The overall healthier effect on the environment compared to fossil fuels. These key advantages are just as important the remember as their flaws. This is what science has achieved, a new world of possibilities and a vision of a new world with a new category of energy. Researchers continue to this very day, expanding their already existing knowledge of biofuels even further to find better solutions to the issues at hand, (The flaws) and with this shows the promise of a true innovating fuel source. With this promise, scientist have begun to find new products to make even superior biofuels than those that still exist, in order to eliminate potential and already existing issues.
Even though nothing went drastically horrible, we didn't have many strengths but had one which was the weighing component because the scale did not malfunction. I believe our results are off on the high end because the data seems to be very accurate. For modifications for a better experiment, I suggest maybe better equipment and more food items. Burning food is quite
This is just as I had said in my prediction. Also, Methanol had the lowest amount of heat produced, just as I had predicted. So, I conclude that the most efficient alcohol out of the ones that I had investigated was Propanol, and the least efficient was Methanol. As far as I can see, there are no patterns or trends in my results. Evaluation Looking at the overall experiment and procedure used to find the results obtained, I thought that it was a good enough way to investigate the combustion of different alcohols.
This software enables you to simulate experiments. This means that I am able to quickly carry out experiments to help in planning for my investigation. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Alcohol Temperature Increase (oC) Mass of burner before exp. (g) Mass of burner after exp.
This is expressed as Δ +ve (delta positive). If the total energy put in is less than the energy created, then the substance warms up (it is exothermic). This is expressed as Δ -ve (delta negative). I will investigate eight different alcohols using an alcohol or spirit burner, to measure the energy change during burning by measuring the change in temperature of some water held in a container.
Investigation to Find the Relative Energy Release of Five Alcohols: Ethanol, Methanol, Propanol, Butanol and Propanol
OH 27000 J/g. Hexane C H 35000 J/g. Variables:.. The variables used in this experiment are: Volume of water, mass of fuel, temperature of water, height of tube. height of flame, type of fuel, time it takes, width of flame, colour. of flame, material of container, size and surface area, purity of.