To find how much energy is released when different alcohols are burnt.

Equipment

Spirit burners, thermometer, tin can, clamp stand, goggles, Ethanol, Propanol, Butanol, Pentanol, Hexanol.

Method

We will get an alcohol burner and weigh it with the alcohol we’re using and then set up the tin can above the burner. We will put 100ml of water into the tin can and take the temperature then we will light the alcohol burner and wait until the temperature has risen by 50°C. After the temperature has risen by 50°C we will re weigh the burner and record how much alcohol was used. We will repeat this for all 5 alcohols.

Fair test

I will keep this a fair test by keeping the amount of water the same for each alcohol and keeping the tin can the same distance from the burner for each one.

Results