LABORATORY

MANUAL
BACHELOR OF ENGINEERING TECHNOLOGY
CHEMISTRY FOR ENGINEERING TECHNOLOGIST
COURSE MANUAL COURSE UNIT WEEK
2 5 7

EXPERIMENT NO. 3

HEAT OF COMBUSTION

Hydrocarbon combustion refers to the type of reaction where a hydrocarbon reacts

with oxygen to create carbon dioxide, water, and heat. Hydrocarbons are
molecules consisting of both hydrogen and carbon. They are most famous for
being the primary constituent of fossil fuels, namely natural gas, petroleum, and
coal. For this reason, fossil fuel resources are often referred to as hydrocarbon
resources. Energy is obtained from fossil fuels through combustion (burning) of
the fuel. Although impurities exist in fossil fuels, hydrocarbon combustion is the
primary process in the burning of fossil fuel.

Regardless of the type of hydrocarbon, combustion with oxygen produces 3

products: carbon dioxide, water and heat, as shown in the general reaction below.
The energy required to break the bonds in the hydrocarbon molecules is
substantially less than the energy released in the formation of the bonds in the CO2
and H2O molecules. For this reason, the process releases significant amounts of
thermal energy (heat).

The combustion of organic compounds produces large quantities of energy. These

compounds range from that of alkanes, to alkenes to even alcohols. Ethanol is a
commonly used fuel in motor-cars and its usage is increasing because it is a form
of renewable energy.

OBJECTIVE:
1. To experimentally determine the standard enthalpy of combustion ΔH c of
some fuels.

MATERIALS:
• 250 Erlenmeyer flask • Thermometer
• 4-Alcohol lamp • Wool
• Balance • Water
• Iron Ring • Ethyl alcohol
• Iron clamp • Methanol
• Rubber stopper
Procedure:
1. Weigh an empty alcohol lamp.
2. Measure 30mL of ethyl alcohol.
3. Place the ethyl alcohol to the pre-weighed alcohol lamp.
4. Get the mass of the alcohol lamp and its content.
5. Weigh an empty Erlenmeyer flask.
6. Add 100mL of water into the Erlenmeyer flask.
7. Weigh the Erlenmeyer flask and its content.
8. Insulate the sides of the Erlenmeyer flask with wool.
9. Follow the set up in the figure below. Distance of the wick from the bottom of the
Erlenmeyer flask is 1 inch.

10. Light up the lamp. Start the stopwatch.

11. Record the temperature of water for every 30 seconds, for five minutes.
12. Put off the lamp and stop the stopwatch.
13. Weigh the lamp and its content.
14. Repeat procedure using isopropyl alcohol instead of ethyl alcohol.
 EXPERIMENT NO. 3
HEAT OF COMBUSTION
Name:
Course and Section:
Group No.:
Date Performed:
Date Submitted:
Name of Instructor: Score

DATA AND RESULTS:

A. Raw Data
Ethyl Alcohol Isopropyl alcohol
(CH3CH2OH) (C3H6OH)
Mass of Erlenmeyer flask (g)
Mass of Erlenmeyer flask and water
(g)
Mass of water (g)
Specific Heat of water (J/g.K) 4.184 4.184
Mass of Lamp (g)
Mass of lamp and fuel (g)
Mass of fuel (g)
Mass of lamp and fuel after heating
(g)
Mass of fuel after heating (g)
Molar Mass (g/mol)
Mass of fuel used up (g)
Moles of fuel used (mol) (mass/MM)

B. Temperature Monitoring
T of Water Using Ethanol T of Water Using Methanol
Time (min)
(oC) (oC)
0.0 (Ti)
0.5
1.0
1.5
2.0
 2.5
3.0
3.5
4.0
4.5
5.0

C. Computations: (Temperatures should be in Kelvin). Solve for what is asked and

complete the table below.

If:
ΔHComb=qrxn

qrxn = -qwater

qwater = mwatercwaterΔTwater

qwater = mwatercwater(Tf-Ti)
𝛥𝐻
ΔHComb=𝑚𝑜𝑙𝑒𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝑓𝑢𝑒𝑙 𝑥 1000

| 𝑇ℎ𝑒𝑜𝑟𝑒𝑡𝑖𝑐𝑎𝑙 −𝐸𝑥𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑎𝑙 |
% Error = 𝑥100
𝑇ℎ𝑒𝑜𝑟𝑒𝑡𝑖𝑐𝑎𝑙

Theoretical ΔH of
Experimental ΔH of
Fuel Combustion % Error
Combustion (kJ/mol)
(kJ/mol)

Ethanol -254.3

Isopropyl
- 2003.8
Alcohol
QUESTIONS:

Briefly answer the following questions.

1. What is combustion?

2. Between the two fuels, which fuel has the highest heat of combustion constant? What
does it imply?

3. What could be the sources of errors in your experiment?