Sabrina Campbell

5J

Lab #22

Skill: AI

Title: Energetics

Aim: To determine which fuel will make the water heat faster and higher.

Apparatus: 1 stopwatch, 1 pen/pencil, 1 paper/notepad, 2 thermometers, 2 tuna cans, 2 wire

gauze, two 100 ml beakers, 1 graduated cylinder, a lighter/matches, 1 weighing
scale
Materials: a small amount of charcoal, the same small amount of dry wood, starter fuel

DIAGRAM SHOWING APPARATUS SETUP

Method:
1. All materials were gathered.
2. One beaker, A and the other, B were labelled.
3. Apparatus was set up correctly, according to the diagram above.
4. 50 ml of water was measured in the graduated cylinder.
5. The measured water was poured into beaker A.
6. Step 4 was repeated and the water was poured into beaker B.
7. Timer was set for 10 minutes, with 1 minute intervals.
8. 6 mL of starter fuel each was poured on the fuels.
9. The flame was ignited under both the coal and the dry wood and timer was started.
10. Reading on the thermometer was recorded in each 1 minute interval.
Sabrina Campbell
5J

Observations:
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5J

The dry wood and charcoal both measured 2.65 grams. After the charcoal and dry wood
were placed in individual tuna cans, an ignitor gas was used to start the fire at the same
time. The beakers were then placed on the wire gauze over the fires. It took 12 seconds to
complete this action. The initial temperature of the water in the beaker was 24°C. It was
noticed that a rather large amount of starter fuel was needed to start the fire. 6 ml on each to
be exact. It was also observed that the dry wood took a relatively longer time to heat up but it
produced more heat than the charcoal after a few minutes of burning. Both samples did not
fully burn out in the ten minutes.

Discussion:
Energetics refers to the study of energy changes that occur during chemical reactions or
physical processes. Energy changes can be endothermic or exothermic. Endothermic refers
to a chemical process in which energy, mostly heat energy, is drawn in and used to complete
the process making the environment around it cooler. Exothermic refers to the release of
energy during a chemical reaction, making the environment around it warmer.
In the lab experiment, the combustion reaction of the dry wood and charcoal is a exothermic
reaction in which the experimenter is measuring the amount of heat energy released through
measuring the heat of the water, which is then compared to each other to deduce the more
efficient fuel source. Both coal and dry wood are commonly used as sources of fuel and
have distinct physical properties:
Coal: brittle and hard, black or near to that colour, scarcely moist, mostly made up of carbon
based on the purity and impurity of the coal, and relatively dense or heavy.
Dry wood: fibrous texture, light brown to dark brown, usually has a moisture content of less
than 20%, made of cellulose, lignin and other substances, and not very dense or less dense
than wood.
Also, coal burns slowly and produces a greater amount of heat and smoke while dry wood
burns quickly with less smoke forming. In the experiment this was seen where the beaker
that was above the dry wood recorded higher temperatures faster than the charcoal which
proves the previous hypothesis, which states that the charcoal will burn faster, incorrect. A
source of error would be that the fire kept going out under both beakers, faster with the
charcoal than dry wood, forcing the experimenter to redo the lab multiple times. Ensure that
the conditions in which the experiment is to be conducted are favourable. For example, a
less windy area. A limitation would be the fuel sources not being able to light as this problem
was uncontrollable since the students were ignorant to the cause of the fire not being able to
light.

Reflection:
In this implementation lab experiment, I learnt of the importance of Energetics and how it can
help to make my life and others’ much easier. In the experiment, we heated two beakers
using two different fuel sources, dry wood and charcoal. Knowing which burns faster/slower,
produces more smoke or produces more fire can determine the use of each fuel source,
allowing for people to efficiently make decisions in everyday life. For example; in the problem
statement of the planning and designing lab, coal burns slowly and produces a lot of smoke
which is the ideal conditions for roasting meat which is a slow cooking process. I learnt that
dry wood would be best for faster cooking such as just boiling water or frying eggs. There
were a few minor changes to the experiment which had to be done. The duration of heating
the water was changed from 15 minutes in the Planning and Designing lab with 5-minute
Sabrina Campbell
5J
time intervals to 10 minutes in the Implementation lab with 1 minute time intervals. This
change was made to accommodate the time each of us had, which was one class session.
Also, a starter fuel was used to ignite the flame which was not mentioned in my PD lab
because I did not acknowledge the fact that another fuel source was needed to start the fire.
Overall, this experiment helped me to better understand the importance of Chemistry in my
life and the life of others.

Conclusion: It can be concluded that the dry wood heated the water faster and higher with
the dry wood having a temperature of 54°C and charcoal having a temperature of 49°C,
disproving the hypothesis.