Molly & Sam 1

Caloric Density of Food and Heat of

Combustion
Molly K. Zink and Samantha T. Smith
Animas High School, Durango, Colorado 81301, United States

Molly & Sam 2

ABSTRACT: The reason for this lab was to find the role of energy in
chemical reactions, calculate the energy density of multiple foods and
find the heat of combustion. The lab was performed by heating/burning
different foods and letting the fire heat water inside a can. Before
going into the lab we hypothesized that that the Pistachios and
Cashews would take the most amount of energy to burn off the
calories. The results were not surprising when we found out that the
foods that had more fats were the ones that had more calories needed
to burn from the flame. This is important because it proves the point
that more fatty foods are indeed not good for us.

INTRO: Throughout the world

we are constantly told how awful
calories are for us and how we
need to watch the amount of
carbs we consume. For this lab,
we were testing this theory. The
purpose of this lab was to find
the role of energy in chemical
reactions, to calculate the
energy density of multiple foods
and find the heat of combustion.
In order to achieve this we chose
five different food items, found
the mass and set them on fire.
We let them burn until the fire
automatically went out. Above
the burning food we had a
calorimeter. A tool used to
measure the amount of heat
involved in a chemical reaction.
The essentials needed are a can,
water, and a thermometer. These
are essentials because they are
the key components in finding
out how much the heat was
raised from the chemical
reaction. In this chemical
reaction both an endothermic
and an exothermic reaction was
caused. An endothermic reaction
occurs an item absorbs heat
from a heat source, as oppose to

an item giving off energy which

occurs during an exothermic
reaction. In this experiment both
occurred as the burning food
released energy to its
surroundings, producing the
exothermic reaction, the can and
the water inside the can absorb
the energy, producing an
endothermic reaction. A calorie,
a joule, and a Calorie are
different units of measuring
heat; specifically the amount of
heat required to raise one
milliliter/gram of water one
degree Celsius. There are 4.184
calories in 1 joule and there are
4184 Calories (kilocalories) in a
joule. There are 1000 calories in
a Calorie. Another term used
was, specific heat capacity is
used to measure the heat added
to an item that results in a
chemical change. The specific
heat capacity of water is 4.179.
Heat means quality of being hot;
high temperature. Temperature
the degree or intensity of heat
present in a substance or object,
especially as expressed
according to a comparative scale
and shown by a thermometer or

Molly & Sam 3

perceived by touch. Thermal
energy is the internal energy of
an object due to the kinetic
energy of its atoms and/or
molecules. Temperature is the
amount of heat in a substance.
Thermal energy relates to these
two because it explains how a
substance can be specific
temperature or have different
amounts of heat. Chemical
energy and thermal energy are
related because they both have
to do with the amount of energy
that is stored in the object to
make the reactions happen.

MATERIALS/METHODS:
Marshmallow
Cheeto
Cashew
Pasticcio
Potato
Chip
Aluminum Can
Thermometer
Bunsen burner
2 Camps
Tongs
250ml of Water
Fume Hood
Gas
Scale
To start the lab we gathered our
materials and built the calorimeter
by filling the aluminum can with
the 250 milliliters of water and
placing the thermometer in the
water. One clamp was used to
attach the can portion of the
calorimeter to a stand placed
inside the fume hood, the other
was attached the stand as well
and held the thermometer in a
position so that it was touching
the water but not the can (figure
1). One of us took three of each
food item out of their bags and
placed them aside in-group that
had one of each food item, while
the other turned on the gas and lit

the Bunsen burner. We used the

scale to find the mass of each food
item and recorded it in a chart like
the one below (table 1); we also
recorded the temperature of the
water both before burning the food
item and after burning the food
item. We then added how long it
took for the item to catch fire and
how long it burnt for. The tongs
were used to hold the food item as
its caught it on and while it was
on fire. The food item was held in
the flame of the Bunsen burner
until it caught fire, once on fire the
food was moved under the can so
the burning food would heat the
water in the can.

Figure 1: Set up

HAZARDS/PRECAUTIONS:
There werent many hazards that
were in this lab. The two major
hazards consist of having gas on
and an open flame. To prevent

Molly & Sam 4

the hazards from causing
destruction, we took precautions
by tying our hair back and
wearing goggles. Our hair was
tied back to protect it from
getting in the fire and spreading
it. The goggles were used to
protect our eyes from the flame
too. When in the lab we worked
in a fume hood. The front of the
fume hood is a glass window that
is easy to pull down, this is so if
the flame gets out of control we
can easily block it from
spreading.

RESULTS: From the data that

this lab has given us, the
Cheetos and Cashews burn the
most amount of calories.
Though, in the last trail it seems
that potato chips surpassed the
rest of the foods. It was noted
that Cheetos and potato chips
caught fire a lot quicker than the
rest. As well as they seem to be
leaking some sort of liquid. The
marshmallows caught fire
quickly; though, the durance of
the fire did not last long. The
pistachios and cashews took
awhile to catch on fire. Though
once they were on fire, they kept
a flame for a long amount of
time. A trend that was noted was
that the average of the foods
that had more artificial fats
caught fire more quickly, and
kept the flame the longest. In the
tables below, it shows the three
different trials that were done.
Within the trials, it was recorded
the amount of mass the food
was, the temperature of the

water before burning the food

below it, as well as after. The
other half of the table shows any
other information that would be
helpful in the conclusion. Lastly,
it shows the math done in order
to figure out the amount of
calories burned in that test. In
the figure 2, (below the tables) it
shows the amount of calories
that were averaged after being
burned throughout all three
trails.

DISSCUTION: There is always

great debate about what exactly

Molly & Sam 5

is healthy for you in the food
groups, and how calories work.
For this lab, we tested how much
calories separate foods actually
burn. The hypothesis at the
beginning of this lab was that
the pistachios and cashews
would take the most amount of
energy to combust. This is
because they have less fat than
the other foods that were tested.
Therefore, they have more
energy stored in them, making
the amount of energy for them
to combust would be high. From
the lab, we concluded that
Cheetos and pistachios seem to
release the most energy when
burned therefore contain the
most calories. This seems like an
accurate accusation because the
amount of calories in these two
foods is fairly high, therefore it
would take more energy in order
to burn off those calories.
Though, in the last trial, the
potato chip seemed to surpass
the rest of the foods. Here is
where an error mightve
happened because of the outlier
in the results. The reason that is
the thought is because in the
other two trials the potato chip
did not take as much to burn.
What we could have done to fix
this error that happened during
the lab is completing more trails
to see if that is normal or if

something mightve happened in

that specific test. It was also
recorded that the foods took
different amounts of time to
catch on fire and keep the flame
ignited. The reason why we think
that the Cheetos and potato
chips caught fire so quickly is
because of how dry the food
alone is. Another possible reason
is the amount of fat found in
these foods as well. There is a lot
more synthetic fat inside these
foods than the other foods
tested. The reason those two
foods started dripping a liquid is
because of the way they are
processed before coming to the
consumer (deep fried). On the
other hand, the Pistachios and
Cashews took a longer time to
catch fire and kept the flame for
a long amount of time. We
concluded this was because the
food is very wet; therefore the
flame would take a longer time
to evaporate the amount of
water in the food. If we were
able to do this lab again, we
would test with more trails to
assure which food burnt the
most amount of calories.