Criteria B lab report

Aim of the experiment:

Large amounts of energy are produced during the burning of organic molecules. Any substance that releases a
lot of energy when it burns is a good fuel. Therefore, the purpose of this experiment is to examine the
relationship between a fuel's standard enthalpy change of combustion and the number of carbon atoms it
contains (hydrocarbon fuel).

Background research:

Research question:

To determine how the amount of carbon atoms in each of the following alcohols—methanol, ethanol,
propanol, butanol, and pentanol—affects how they burn.

Hypothesis: As the amount of carbon atoms present in the hydrocarbon chain of alcohols increases the
enthalpy of combustion becomes more negative because:

Enthalpy, abbreviated H, equals the sum of internal energy, abbreviated E or U, and the product of pressure
and volume. The change in enthalpy, ΔH, is expressed as the difference between the enthalpies of the products
and the reactants. At constant temperature and pressure, ΔH is equal to the amount of heat energy exchanged
between the system and the surroundings, or the heat of the reaction. When ΔH is positive, reactions absorb
heat and are endothermic. If ΔH is negative, reactions release heat and are exothermic. Combustion is an
example of an exothermic process, where a substance burns in the presence of an oxidant like atmospheric
oxygen to release energy in the form of heat. The heat released is quantified as the molar heat of combustion,
which is the amount of heat energy released on burning one mole of a substance. When a hydrocarbon burns,
the carbon and hydrogen from the fuel combine with molecular oxygen to produce water and carbon dioxide,
along with the release of energy. The value of the heat of combustion for a hydrocarbon increases with the
number of carbon atoms in the chain since more carbon is available for burning and more bonds undergo
changes. For example, the combustion of methane, a single-carbon compound, generates less heat energy than
that of butane, which has four carbon atoms. The heat of combustion is a critical way to determine the relative
stability of hydrocarbons with the same molecular formula but different structures. Consider the heats of
combustion of octane, 2-methylheptane, and 2,2-dimethylhexane. These compounds have the same number of
carbon atoms, but the methyl groups are attached at different positions in each molecule. Octane has the
largest heat of combustion. As the branching increases the ΔH decreases, suggesting that branching increases
the stability of a hydrocarbon.

Write explanation for hypothesis ( Do by today )

Independent variable Dependent variable

The independent variable is the The dependent variable is the
amount of carbon atoms in the mass of alcohol burnt during the
hydrocarbon chain of alcohols. trials that will occur in the
The alcohols that will be used experiment.
during the trials will be the
primary alcohols: Methanol,
Ethanol, butanol, octanol and
pentanol.

Controlled variables
Mass of distilled water
Distance between the wick and the bottom of the calorimeter
Temperature rise
Duration of burning

Manipulation of variables ( how will they be controlled and why they should be controlled )

The independent variable can easily be controlled as it can be easily measured from the formula that it is
allocated, Therefor the enthalpy of combustion of any of the alcohols will give us 4 separate sets of data as
they are separated.

Alcohol Molecular formula

Methanol CH3OH
Ethanol C2H5OH
Propanol C3H7OH
Butanol C4H9OH

The dependent variable: The dependent variable will change through the experiment as the mass can be
calculated in a simple and straight forward manner.
A process is needed in order to make sure that the dependent variable will be modified through the experiment.

Before heating the different types of fuels the mass of the spirt lamp and its alcohol content can be measured
by using an electronical scale that will give us the mass of the alcohol and the reading should be recorded
carefully as it contains many numbers and is arranged in a form of decimal numbers. In order to find out the
mass of the alcohol that is put on trial after heating it will be measured again. The difference of these two
separate masses that determine the before and after mass of the alcohol will give us the mass of alcohol burnt
during heating.

Mass of alcohol burnt = final mass of spirit lamp – initial mass of spirit lamp

Controlled variables:

Mass of distilled water: through the experiment the mass of the distilled water will remain constant; we will do
this by having a measuring cylinder that will help us know and obtain the exact amount of water that will be
used upon each trial, We will also need another scientific tool which is a pipet in order to make the results
exact and have more sufficient data. The agreed amount of distilled water is 100cm

Mass of distilled water = volume x density of water

As a final result the mass of water will be kept constant by having a fixed value in place.

Distance of wick and the bottom of the calorimeter

Though the experiment the distance of the wick and bottom of the calorimeter will remain at the same distance
and level. The distance between the wick of the spirt burner and the bottom of the calorimeter should be kept
fixed and if not will result in heat lost around the surroundings and will lead to a low rise in temperature of
water.

The distance between the 2 objects will be constant through the

experiment keeping it at a dance of 3cm

Temperature rise: Through the expierment the temperature rise will be kept constant the temperature rise can
be caluculated from the formula given below

Temperature rise = final temperature – initial temperature

This factor should be kept constant through the experiment as if the temperature rise isent kept constant it will
affect our dependent variable ( mass of fuel burnt ) the final fermetures can be measured using a thermometer
with a range from -10 degrees to 110 degrees. This variable should be kept constant through the experiment as
the different alcohols will have a differed enthalpy of combustion to go more in details and explain why they
have different enthalpy of combustion – alcohols give different amounts of heats to raise the temperature. This
is one of the most important variables that must be constant and controlled through the experiment as errors in
the temperature rise will result us in having unorganized and unethical data.

Time (duration of burning)

The longer the burning time the greater the temperature change which causes the consumption of fuels to
increase. And in order to make sure that every alcohol has the same burning duration a stopwatch will be
included in the experiment in order to set a timer for 2 minutes as that will be our burning time.

Initial mass of alcohol in the spirit burner: The more the fuel the present in the spirt burner closer contact
between the alcohol used and the wick will be provided which will result in higher efficiency of the burn due
to the releasee of heat.

Initial temperature of the water: by using a thermometer to make sure that the initial temperate of the water
during each trial I similar and conducting the trails at the same time period as the temperature of the
surrounding affects and contributions to heat rate and combustion.