Suren Ramsundar

Date: 17/4/2023

Title: The power output of a Candle

Physics Project

Situation: Mark has no electricity at home since a storm knocked out his transformer and T &
TEC has announced that the power outage would last for 2 days. He goes to the supermarket to
shop for candles. He is in the candle lane that is filled with different brands of candle. He wants
to know if any would be able to provide enough energy light to illuminate the entire room for the
night.

Hypothesis:

Aim: to investigate which brand of paraffin wax candle, A,B or C has the greatest power output

Variables:
Manipulated Variable: Brand of candle
Responding:Change in temperature
Constant: Type of wax, Dimension, Shape

Apparatus and Materials: Three different brands of paraffin wax candles of same shape, mass
and dimensions, 250 ml of water, retort stand and clamps, Measuring Cyclinder, electronic
balance, vernier calliper, thermometer, metal container, ruler, kitchen, lighter , stopwatch

Method:
The weight of the candle was measured and then it was recorded/noted.

The candle was then lit and was allowed to burn for an approximate time of around 30 minutes.

The candle was then blown out after the time goal was reached and its weight was then
measured again.

The mass of wax that has been burned was then calculated by subtracting the weight of the
burned candle from the initial weight of the candle found.

The energy released by the burning wax was then determined and the energy released by the
burning wax was determined through the multiplication of the mass of wax burned by its calorific
(the amount of heat energy released) value. The calorific value of wax is known to be 42 kJ/g.

The power output of the candle was calculated and determined by the division of the energy
released by the burning wax by the duration of the burn time. This gives the average power
output of the candle’s duration of its burning time.
Results:

Calculations:
Precautions:

i)

ii)

Sources of Error:
i)

ii)

Conclusion: Within the limits of the experimental errors of this lab, it was found that the power
output of a candle can be optimized by using larger candles with higher-quality wax rather than
the cheaper lower-quality based ones. Investigations can also show how other factors such as
air flow and the wick length can affect the power output of a candle.