preview

Pentane Synthesis Lab

Decent Essays

Discussion: These experiments were established to find which fuel, out of Pentane, Propan-1-ol and Propan-2-ol would be the most suitable to take on a camping trip to cook with. As shown by the graphs below, Pentane contains a lot more energy than the other two fuels, this means it is more flammable than both Propan-1-ol and Propan-2-ol but is also a lot more dangerous because it can get out of control easier, as seen in the tests conducted. The aim of this experiment was to determine which fuel, out of Pentane, Propane-1-ol and Propane-2-ol would be the most appropriate to take on a camping trip to a national park where wood cannot be used to burn. Factors that need to be considered are: • Heat of combustion (flash point) • Heat of vaporisation (boiling point) • …show more content…

Pentane, which is the most flammable out of the three fuels is also used up the quickest, this isn’t ideal if you want to use it as a fuel to cook with as you would need to take more of it with you. All of the fuels heated the water up fairly quickly and although the time taken wasn’t measured, Pentane did seem the quickest to heat up the water whereas Propan-1-ol and Propan-2-ol were approximately the same. Overall it Propan-2-ol appears to be the best choice to take camping as it has the lowest flash point which means it will still ignite in temperatures down to 11.7⁰C, is not as dangerous as Pentane and does not get used up or evaporate as quickly and heats water up fairly rapidly as there were no uncontrolled fires in any of the tests and accurate measurements of mass were able to be recorded as the Propan-2-ol didn’t fluctuate like the Pentane

Get Access