Investigating the Burning of Fuel

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Holly Mitchell

Investigating the Burning of Fuel

In this experiment I will be burning some alcohols to heat a tin of water and the aim of this experiment is to find out which alcohol gives out the most energy with the least amount of fuel.

The fuels that I am going to experiment with are: Butanol, Methanol, Ethanol and Propanol.

Method- To start with I will weigh each fuel with its lid on; this is so nothing can spill or evaporate from the container in which the alcohol is. Then I will take one of the fuels that I have weighed and light the wick, I will then put it underneath the apparatus, which I previously set up. The alcohol will put underneath a tin filled with 120cm3 of water. I will then heat the water until it reaches 450C. I will then weigh the alcohol again with the lid on and I will write down the results of the before and after temperature.

 Before the experiment you have to check all of the risks involved.

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                              Risk Assessment        

Chance of water/ alcohol       Wear goggles

Spraying in eyes

Burned Hair                           Tie hair up

Setting Bench on fire             Use bench mat      

I will do each experiment twice to make sure the results are reliable and I can do some averages.

The equipment I will need to do this experiment is:

  • Clamp
  • Boss
  • Stand
  • Tin ...

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