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Comparing the Enthalpy change of combustion of different alcohols

Saidul Amin 12LT

Combustion reactions are exothermic. The chemical reactants loose energy and the products end up with less energy than the reactants had. Enthalpy change is the measurement of energy transferred to and from the surroundings. Enthalpy change is worked out as:

?H= H products - H reactants

The diagram below shows an enthalpy level diagram for an exothermic reaction.

I will expect all my enthalpy change values to be negative as combustion is an exothermic reaction, and therefore energy is being lost to the surroundings.

It is however obvious that these values will change for different alcohols, as their molecular structures are different. There are three independent variables which can be investigated in this experiment and these are chain length of the alcohol, amount of branches there are in the alcohols and also the position of the functional group on the alcohol.

In this experiment I will be seeing how the chain length of different alcohols affects change in enthalpy. In turn this means that I am testing how an increased number of carbon atoms on the alcohol effects change in enthalpy.