Chem 30: Module 2 Lesson 1 Assignment Name:___________________

MODULE 2: LESSON 1 ASSIGNMENT

Read all parts of your assignment carefully, and record your answers in the appropriate
places. If you have difficulty with an assignment, go back to the textbook and the online
course and review the appropriate lesson. Be sure to proofread your answers carefully
before submitting your assignment.

NOTE: You will need to add space for your answers if filling this out in Word, or answer the
questions on a separate piece of paper if you will be scanning your responses for
submission.

Lesson 1 Assignment: Alternative Fuels: Biodiesel

Quantitative Observations

1. Record the measurements for

a. volume of oil used

b. volume of biodiesel collected

2. Calculate the yield of biodiesel as a percentage of the volume of oil used in its
production.

Qualitative Observations

3. Complete the table below.

Observations of Reactant (Cooking Oil): Observations of Product (Biodiesel):

Colour: Colour:

Clarity: Clarity:

Other: Other:
Chem 30: Module 2 Lesson 1 Assignment Name:___________________

Type of Fuel in Colour of Flame Description of Other Observations

Burner Smoke Produced
Olive Oil

Methanol

Biodiesel

Observations: Testing biodiesel

4. Construct a data table to record and organize the data from the calorimetric test of olive
oil, methanol, and biodiesel produced from olive oil as shown in the virtual investigation.

5. Calculate the energy of combustion per gram of fuel.

6. Rank the three materials tested with respect to increasing energy content per gram of
substance.

7. Does the process you undertook to make biodiesel improve the energy content per gram
of the oil? Use the data from the experiment to support your answer.

8. Use the Internet or other resources available to you to provide reasons why biodiesel is
produced by a chemical process and vegetable oil is not used directly as a fuel.

You could use vegetable oil with no other modifications. However, vegetable oil has very high
viscosity. It's so thick that the engine has a hard time atomizing the fuel completely when it is sprayed
into the combustion chamber. The result is unburned fuel that clogs the engine.

You are now ready to submit this assignment to your instructor for grading.

Before you submit this to the relevant dropbox,

1. Remember to edit the Header to include your name.
2. Please save it using the filename: C30M2L1AssnSmithJ.doc (except use your own last name
and first initial!).

Thank you – this will greatly help your instructor as s/he marks all of the assignments.