GCSE Chemistry Coursework:Is there a pattern in the structure of alcoholsAnd there energy values?

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David Bennett

GCSE Chemistry Coursework:

Is there a pattern in the structure of alcohols

And there energy values?

Hypothesis

I don’t think that there is a pattern is the structure of alcohols and the energy value. For example why should Propan-1-ol give out more or less energy than propan-2-ol if it is the same only set out slightly different. I predict that propan-1-ol will give the same as propan-2-ol and that butan-1-ol will give the same as butan-2-ol because they are basically the same thing set out differently.

Equipment

  • Card board and tin foil ‘Chimney’
  • Heat proof mat
  • Tripod
  • Metal gauze
  • 100ml beaker (50mls of water)
  • thermometer
  • crucible
  • mineral wool
  • alcohols (2mls of each)

Alcohols

Propan-1-ol

C3H7OH

 H – C – C – C – OH  

Propan-2-ol

C3H7OH

H – C – C – C – H

Butan-1-ol

C4H9OH

H – C – C – C – C – OH

Butan-2-ol

C4H9OH

H – C – C – C – C – H

Diagram

Method

First of all we set up the equipment as shown in the diagram. We had four different alcohols, propan-1-ol, propan-2-ol, butan-1-ol and butan-2-ol. We soaked some mineral wool in the alcohols (not at the same time) and heated up the beaker of water with it until it went out. We had the starting temperature of the water before we did it and measured it when the flame had gone out. We decided to use 2mls of alcohol and 50mls of water. We chose to use these amounts because in our preliminary work we used 5mls of fuel, this took too long to burn. We also used 100mls of water and this took to long to heat up making our results un varied. I predict that Butan-1-ol will make the biggest temperature change because it has more bonds than both of the propanols. I think it will make more heat than Butan-2-ol because of the way the (OH) bond is arranged. If a (H) is on the end bond then it may be broken easier making more heat than if it was in the middle.

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Results

The final results highlighted in blue are the results which I think may have gone wrong in some way, I will not disregard them in the working out of averages because if I did then there wouldn’t really be enough results to make a fair conclusion.

The average results are:

Propan-1-ol =30+27+38 

                           3           = 31.6ºC

Propan-2-ol =28+38+29

                          ...

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