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Carbon Compounds and Petrochemicals! Wait, aren’t those dangerous?
Purpose: To determine the calories per gram of charcoal briquettes.
Background: Organic chemistry is defined as the scientific study within chemistry of
the structure, properties, composition, reactions and preparation of chemical compounds
consisting chiefly of carbon and hydrogen, but may contain other common elements,
including nitrogen, oxygen, halogen, phosphorus, silicon and sulfur. Hydrocarbons are
organic compounds consisting of mostly carbon and hydrogen. Hydrocarbons are
commonly referred to as arenas, alkanes, alkenes and alkynes and are considered “pure”
hydrocarbons. Petrochemicals are chemicals products of petroleum origin. Common
petrochemicals are olefins (including ethylene and propylene) and aromatics (including
benzene and xylene isomers). Calories are units of measurement for energy. Calorie is
French but is derived from the Latin calor meaning heat. The two likely chemical
equations that occurred in the lab were combustion and oxidation. In most fields, calorie
is replaced by joule but calorie is used when measuring the amount of food energy. The
formula for finding calories is: q=m•1cal.
g•cº
Materials:
1. Aluminum can
2. Water (H2O)
3. Ring stand
4. Briquette
5. Lighter fluid
6. Spoons
7. Graduated cylinder
8. Striker
9. Goggles
10. Wood splint
11. Test tube holder
12. Bunsen burner
Jessica Hillis Period 1 May 28, 2007
Procedure: See Handout
Data Table:
Mass of briquette soaked in lighter fluid 1.4g
Mass of 100mL of H20 100g
Initial temperature of H20 21º
Final temperature of H20 43º
Heat absorbed by H20 in calories 2200 cal
Heat lost by burning briquette 2200 cal
Heat per gram of briquette in cal/g 19.45 calories/gram
Conclusion: At the end of the lab soot was produced on the bottom of the can. Our
briquette had turned gray and pretty much dissolved away from burning it. The water,
naturally, had risen in temperature. Possible sources of error could have been that our
charcoal briquette wouldn’t stay lit. There either wasn’t enough lighter fluid or the wind
kept blowing it out, but after a while we (my group) had to simply blow on the embers
left over from the attempted burning of the briquette.