Investigate whether firelighter, wood, ethanol, paraffin or wax contains the most energy

Investigate whether firelighter, wood, ethanol, paraffin or wax contains the most energy

Energy In Different Fuels

Aim: I am going to investigate which fuels contain the most energy between; firelighter, wood, ethanol, paraffin and wax.

Prediction: I think that the fuel that contains the most energy is the one that produces the highest rise in temperature of the water. I know this because… Heat + fuel + oxygen => CO2 + H20 + energy.

The energy realised is heat and light energy, which is dependent on the chemical potential energy in the fuel. The greater the chemical potential energy the more energy is transferred as heat and light; the greater the rise in temperature.

And because of the fire triangle:

tri2.gif (22406 bytes)

Apparatus:

List:

Stop watch Thermometer

Splint Clamp

Matches Boiling tube

Heat proof mat

Fuels:

Firelighter,

Wood,

Ethanol,

Paraffin,

Wax.

Method (Preliminary test): first of all, I will make sure I take all of the safety precautions, I.e. tie back long hair, use goggles and make sure the room is well ventilated. Secondly I will set out the apparatus and get all the equipment from the list (shown on the previous page). Using the measuring cylinder, I will put 20cm3 of distilled water into a boiling tube, and take the starting temperature. In order to make this a fair test I will burn the fuel for one minute only, use 20cm3 of water and make sure the tip of the fuel’s flame is under the boiling tube. After the minute is up, I will blow out the flame or place the lid of the fuel over it, (cutting off the oxygen). I will then take the finial temperature. Then I will repeat the experiment for the other four fuels, in order to establish which two fuels produced the highest rise in temperature of the water.

Method - Comparison:

I will then compare these two fuels by heating them until they get to a certain temperature noting down the time every time the temperature increases by 10°C in order to form a scatter graph using line of best fit. I will use step one and most of step two from the preliminary test

(first of all, I will make sure I take all of the safety precautions,

I.e. tie back long hair, use goggles and make sure the room is well ventilated. Secondly I will set out the apparatus and get all the equipment from the list (shown on the previous page). Using the measuring cylinder, I will put 20cm3 of distilled water into a boiling tube,) I then heat the water using the first fuel until it rises to

100°C, noting the time every 10°C starting from 20°C.