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The Pros And Cons Of Combustion Of Alcohols

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Introduction

Alkanols (Alcohols) are a homologous series in the hydroxyl functional group, meaning that they have an -OH. Carbon to carbon bonds within alkanol chains means that the boiling point of alkanols increases as the chain grows longer, this is because more energy is required to break the bonds between the carbon atoms. However, alkanols also experience hydrogen bonding meaning that not only are high amounts of energy needed to break the intramolecular bonds additional energy is needed to break the intermolecular bonds. Thus, alkanols have higher boiling points than their respective alkane. When the carbon to carbon bonds in alkanols break during combustion reactions they release energy, thus allowing for the use of alkanols, especially …show more content…

The heat generated by the burning of the alkanols instead of being completely applied to the can could be lost to the surrounding air. Effectively, this dispersion of heat is what caused the discrepancies between the results and the accepted value for the molar heat of combustion of methanol, ethanol and pentanol. By having the spirit burner and aluminium can closer can minimise this effect though it cannot completely solve it. Another way would be to enclose the spirit burner and the bottom of the aluminium can, this would be the most effective way, however it has other …show more content…

The hole in the top of the can that the thermometer was placed through would have allowed for heat to escape through the top of the aluminium can. Although, the loss of heat through the top of the aluminium can would have been far less than the loss of heat from the space between the spirit burner and the bottom of the aluminium can. The heat would be transferred through either the aluminium can or through a small amount of the water. This problem could be solved by closing off the top of the aluminium can, this could be done through the use of a thermometer which had been inserted in a cork, thus not allowing heat to escape through the top of the aluminum

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