The Burning of Primary and Secondary Alcohols Extended Experimental Investigation

3.Introduction- In order to do this experiment you must know certain terms and formulas. Molar mass is defined as one mole of this substance. The molar mass is what we are trying to find.One equation use d to find molar mass is MW=m/n. Another thing needed to know is the Ideal Gas Law. The equation used for this is PV=nRT.

Planning My aim for this experiment is to see the energy produced from different alcohols. This investigation involves burning alcohol in the air. ‘GCSE Chemistry’ by B.Earl and L.D.R Wilford says that "alcohols form, another homologous series, with the general formula Cn H2n+1OH ". The alcohol reacts with the oxygen in the air to form the products water and carbon dioxide.

The aim of this experiment is to test each fuel (Ethanol, Hexanol and Octanol) by using a spirit burner, tripod and beaker filled with water to determine which fuel produces the most effective heat of combustion that is also safe to take camping. This will be conducted by using a stopwatch to time the combustion of each fuel to determine which fuels heats the water quickly, and what materials can be used to minimise loss of energy when heat is being transferred from the flame to the water.

2. ALTERNATIVE FUELS - ETHANOL & THE ALKANOLS 3. REDOX CHEMISTRY & BATTERIES 4. RADIOACTIVITY & ITS USES

We can assume that the specific heat capacity of water is 4.18 J / (g × °C) and the density of water is 1.00 g/mL.

The first step of many was to calculate my molecular formula, using the given masses on my combustion worksheet. Using the ideal gas law, it was quite a simple process first converting the given grams to moles. Then after finding out the amount of oxygen in the combustion, and doing a few more calculations, I was able to plug it into the ideal gas law and crank out my molecular weight. After calculating the molecular formula I typed it into the

The length and width of the burner wicks created

11.80. A r oom that m eas ur es 12'x 15'x 10' has gener al di l uti on exhaus t venti l ati on of 1

Wash a crucible and cover. Heat in the coolest part of the flame for 3 minutes to dry. Allow to cool, then measure and record the mass of the crucible and cover in the data table.

Furthermore, the combustion of propane is considered spontaneous because its ΔH is negative and its ΔS is positive. The enthalpy of the reaction is negative, since the heat is on the product side of the balanced chemical equation for the combustion of propane, C3H8(g) + 5O2(g) 3CO2(g) + 4H2O(l)+ heat. In addition, the entropy of the reaction is positive, which means it increases in disorder, because the number of gaseous particles on the product side is greater than the number of gaseous particles on the reactant side. Therefore, a process is spontaneous if its enthalpy is negative and its entropy is positive, which in this case proves that the combustion of propane is spontaneous since it satisfies both of these requirements.

2) Using tongs, measure and record the mass of the empty crucible in the data table.

have five C-H bonds, one C-C bond, one C-O bond and one O-H bond. To

When the fuels are burnt, energy is given off. I will be calculating the energy given off using the formula above. The specific heat capacity is the energy

The results that were revealed were thought to be accurate and reliable as many factors were controlled to enable the best quality. The results that a constant rise in the combustion occurred as each alcohol’s carbon chain increased with one exception indicates that the reliability of this experiment has to be examined. With such a high percentage error from these results means they cant be definitive. Also only three trials were conducted on the five different alcohols. If the experiment were to be conducted again I would conduct five trials on each alcohol to get a better average.

Using this value it can be determined how my energy is required to raise the temperature of one litre of water from 20°C, to 100°C, as done by a kettle(Hyper Physics 2014). The amount of energy needed to boil the litre of water is; 4.2 × 1000 grams × 80 degrees = 336,000 joules, therefore it takes 336 kJ to raise the temperature by 80°C.