The combustion of the candle is an oxidation reaction of alkane and oxygen.

An alkane is a
compound of Carbon and Hydrogen. These two reactants react with each other to create Carbon
Dioxide and Water, (CO2 and H2O). Combustion reactions need oxygen to perform the reaction. In
the inverted beaker, there are atmospheric gases such as Carbon Dioxide, oxygen, and nitrogen. The
oxygen portion of the beaker is gradually used up to perform the reaction. When all the oxygen in
the beaker is used up, the reaction stops. Thus, the candle extinguishes.

Control variables are those variables which we keep constant during the experiment. We keep them
constant as they can influence the dependant variable.

Validation of hypothesis;

The experiment conducted and the results obtained, completely validated the hypothesis. From the
graph, it can be observed that there is a strong co-relation between the volume of the beaker and
the time taken for the candle to burn. The amount of oxygen which was needed to continue the
combustion process was proportional to the volume of the beaker. The hypothesis predicted that
the time the candle has extinguished will be more when the volume of the beaker is increased.
Hence, the hypothesis is validated and accepted.

Risk assessment:

Type

1 – Hazardous – Lots of glassware such as beakers are used in the experiment so ensure to not
break anything during the experiment. In case of breakage, ensure there is no injury to yourself
clean up the glass, and dispose of it safely.

Since the combustion process is used in the experiment, we must take proper precautions to ensure
fire safety measures. We also must use gloves aprons and eye goggles while conducting this
experiment.

2 – Environmental damage – After the experiment, the candles should be disposed of safely and
correctly since they can harm the environment. We use correctly sealed plastic bags to dispose of
the candles.

3 – Ethical considerations – The use of large quantities of candle wax should be avoided since the
unused candles will add to the waste and safety in disposing of in the environment.

Limitations and improvements:

1- The beaker used in the experiment was previously used by our seniors and junior chemistry
students and thus might not have been thoroughly rinsed. There might have been chemical
contamination which was remaining in a beaker. This contaminant can influence the
combustion process. This might have led to systematic errors in the experiment. Hence, the
use of thoroughly cleaned and dry beakers is essential.
2- The manual stopwatch used in the experiment might not have been properly calibrated
every time it was used by our fellow students. This would have added to random
uncertainties during the experiment. The use of a properly calibrated digital stopwatch
would be beneficial to get a more accurate result than a precise one.
Extensions:

The extensions of that experiment can be measuring the time taken for the flame to extinguish
by taking the same mass of different combustible substances (such as ethanol, propanol,
butanol, and petrol) in a burner. The time taken for the flame to extinguish will be dependent
upon the type of combustible substance used. The process of combustion will depend on the
molecular structure and the burned energy of the substance used in the experiment.