Investigate whether ethanol, paraffin or natural gas is the best fuel.

Method:

General

• Measure the amount of water needed by using a measuring cylinder, and then pour the water into a beaker.
• Place the beaker on to a clamp.
• Place one out of the three fuels below the beaker at a measurement of 1½ cm.
• Take readings every one minute to be more reliable.
• Repeat each fuel three times to be more accurate.

Trail Run

• Water of different volumes will be boiled at for 5minutes to see which the best volume of water is.
• The different volumes are 100ml3, 150ml3 and 200ml3.
• Heat the water by using a Bunsen burner  
• See which one does not boil after 5 minutes but gets at a high temperature.  

Fuels

• Take the starting temperature using a thermometer.
• Light the fuel.
• Start the stopwatch.
• Make your readings down on a piece of paper for every one minute.
• Note: for paraffin try and use a tripod.

Fair Test:

I will use the same amount of water (150cm³) for every fuel; I will use the same amount of distances between the beaker and the fuel. I will us the same period of time for each fuel (5 minutes)

Hypothesis:

Ethanol has a higher and boiling point then an alkane because of its hydrogen bonding between the molecules. (C2H5OH

       H    H

        |      |

H—C—C—H—O—H

        |      |

       H    H

90 % of Natural Gas is made out of Methane and the other 10% is made from ethane, propane and some of the higher alkanes. (CH4)  

       H    

        |    

H—C—H

        |    

       H    

Prediction:

 I think natural gas is the best fuel because we use it for everyday life. Ethanol has the formula structure = C2H5OH, Paraffin has the formula structure = C10H22 to C16H34 and natural gas has the formula structure = CH4. So with this information I figured out that the atom hydrogen is very flammable so the more hydrogen’s there are the more dangerous it is because it will make a bigger explosion so the I found out that paraffin has the largest amount of hydrogen’s so this is very dangerous and can cause a big explosion so that is why I did not choose it. I did not chose ethanol because it has a higher boiling point then an alkane because of its hydrogen bonding between the molecules .so with this I think natural gas is the best fuel.

Result:

Here is a table of results to show the temperature of the water when burn with the three fuels that I have been given. The table will show you the average and three sets of result for each fuel.

Soot at the bottom of the beaker stared to form within 2-3minutes.

Lot’s of soot and black smoke started to appear soon as we started to light the paraffin.

 

  No soot was formed.

 

Conclusion:

 I find out that natural gas heats the water the quickness and it does not produce a lot of soot because it has not got a lot of carbon atoms but not like paraffin which has got lots of carbon atoms and it produces a lot of soot when it is burns.  My results came out the way that I expected to do because in my prediction I said that Natural Gas is the best fuel and I was right.

Evaluation:

 I believe if I was to do this experiment again I could have improved by taking more readings to get an accurate average and doing the experiment again to make my results more reliable and accurate.

The experiment went well but I had one anomalous result so I ignored it and repeated that experiment again. My result showed me that I was correct with my prediction, that the more the carbon atoms the more soot it produces and the more hydrogen the more the risk of a big explosion.