Determining The Molar Heat of Combustion of Paraffin

Wax Using a Calorimeter

Derek Pansze, Will Brako, Anish Wells

ABSTRACT
1

The purpose of this research paper is to understand and discover the molar heat of
combustion of paraffin. Being able to find molar heat is an important task because it tells
you as the researcher how much energy is needed in order to melt each mole of a
substance on hand, in this case each mole of paraffin wax. The first phase of this lab
involved gathering materials that would be needed to complete the experiment, and
build a calorimeter. After that, the first section of the experiment was conducted by
suspending the calorimeter in the air and placing the paraffin wax candle underneath,
this is in order to heat the water within the can. Data was then recorded. Three different
containers were used in the making of the calorimeter in order to create different sets of
data and find different energy densities. The results of the experiment were as
expected, lower than the theoretical molar heat, our experimental value at 2,750.9 kJ/mol
was not even close to the theoretical value at 7,860 kJ/mol as we expected due to flaws
in our experiment. The percentage error of the results is 2.86%.

INTRODUCTION
Humans like heat, this is something that has almost always been true, and will almost
always stay true. It is part of our brain's chemistry to feel heat and naturally be intrigued
by it, and throughout our years of exploring this reaction we have found the specifics
about it, and how we can use it to benefit us. One of the things that have been created
to benefit us in this day and age are candles, these sources of heat and light are used in
order to illuminate to a dark area, bring in new aromas, and naturally the fire gives off a
little heat. Paraffin is a waxy, flammable substance that is created from distilled
petroleum or shale. It is often used in cosmetics, sealing / waterproofing compounds,
and mainly, candles. The experiment was conducted in order to find the molar heat of
combustion for paraffin. This is an important task because it is used in order to find the
most efficient energy density for different energy sources. (I.E gasoline v.s natural gas)
It takes a particular type of reaction to release each type of energy and find energy
density, these include nuclear, chemical, electrochemical, and electrical. The type of
reaction that was used to find this energy density was chemical, because combustion is
a chemical reaction. Energy density is the amount of recoverable energy in a certain
space per unit volume or mass, the higher the energy density of the fuel, the more
energy may be stored. A calorimeter is a tool used to measure the amount of heat in a
chemical reaction. The anticipated outcome for this experiment is below the common
estimated molar heat of paraffin. (7,860 kJ/mole) This would be due to basic flaws in our
experiment such as; not filling our beaker completely to the 200 ml mark, removing the
calorimeter before the container was fully heated, reading the thermometer in
Fahrenheit instead of Celsius, etc.

METHODS
Finding the molar heat of paraffin first required the creation of a calorimeter. This
involved using a can or jar filled with 200 ml of water and a thermometer to measure the
temperature of the water. Then, the jar was suspended approximately an inch above the
table using a retort stand. The temperature of the water was recorded in Celsius, the lit
candle was placed under the calorimeter, and a paper shield was placed around the
candle to prevent the candle from being extinguished. Once the thermometer read 30
degrees Celsius, the candle was immediately extinguished and the wax allowed to
solidify before the mass was recorded. After the first trial, this process was repeated
twice with calorimeters made of glass of varying thicknesses to ensure that the data
collected was more accurate. This process was used because glass is a worse
conductor compared to aluminum, and therefore the jars will lose less heat to the
environment compared to the can, which makes the results more accurate. However,
glass jars use much more material compared to thin aluminum cans, which means that
more energy is needed to heat the calorimeter to the temperature of the water, which
makes the results less accurate, because in the beginning, less heat is transferred to
the water. To help remediate this problem, a thicker glass jar and a thin glass jar were
used to show how the amount of material in the calorimeter effected the end results,
and therefore give us a better understanding of the results.

HAZARDS
Caution was always used around open flames and the candle was allowed to cool
before it was moved to prevent the spilling of hot wax. As always, adequate eye
protection was used and the experiment was performed under a fume hood to prevent
smoke from being inhaled.

RESULTS
Table 1 it shows that it took 1.59g of paraffin to heat the water 12 degrees celsius. Table 2
shows that it took 1.5g of paraffin to heat the water 14 degrees celsius. Table 3 shows that it
took only 1.05g of paraffin to heat the water 12 degrees celsius. Equations 1, 2, and 3 show the
calculated molar heat of combustion paraffin in kilojoules per mole based on our experiment.
These calculations use the difference in temperature, amount of water, and the specific heat of
water to find the molar heat of combustion for paraffin in kilojoules per mole. Figure 1
represents the temperature change per gram of paraffin wax burned.
Table 1: Data of Metal Can

Table 2: Data of Large Glass Jar

Table 3: Data of Small Glass Jar

Figure 1: Temperature Change per Gram of Wax

Equation 1: Molar Heat of Experiment 1

Q=4.18 J/g x 200 g x 12 C x .0036 mol / 1000
Q=2,750.9 kJ/mol
Equation 2: Molar Heat of Experiment 2
Q=4.18 J/g x 200 g x 14 C x .0034 mol / 1000
Q=3,887.9 kJ/mol
Equation 3: Molar Heat of Experiment 3
Q=4.18 J/g x 200 g x 12 C x .0024 mol / 1000
Q= 4,165.7 kJ/mol

Discussion
This lab was different from the original Lab Determining the Molar Heat of Combustion for
Paraffin in the fact that instead of just one container used there were three different containers
of all different shapes, sizes and materials. This experiment was supposed to demonstrate the
use of fossil fuels but now it is designed to research if different types of materials could
conserve more energy and make a more efficient system. The three containers involved were a
metal can as the lab previously used, a large glass mason jar, and a smaller glass jar. Each jar
was filled with 200 ml or 200 g of water and were left alone in order to let the water reach a
temperature that did not change. The metal can settled at 18C, the large mason jar settled at
16C, and the small glass jar settled at 18C. After placed on over the candle the water inside of
the containers was heated until 30C and then the candle was removed and weighed to find the
mass lost in the heating process. The weight lost of the candle was 1.59 g. This means that it
took .13 g of paraffin to heat the water 1 degree Celsius. The large mason jar however had a
difference of 14C and it took 1.5 g of paraffin to get there this means that it took .1 g of paraffin

to heat the water in the mason jar 1 degree Celsius. The small glass jar had a 12C difference
in temperature and it took 1.05 g of paraffin to achieve this. This means that the small jar
heated the water faster because it took only .08 g of paraffin to increase the water's temperature
by 1 degree Celsius. This means that the same amount of water in different containers takes
varying amounts of paraffin to heat it. The hypothesis that different containers can be more
energy efficient has been proven true. The small glass jar absorbed the most heat while using
the least amount of paraffin. This is because the smaller glass jar is a better conductor than the
aluminum can, so it loses less heat to the environment, and it had less material to heat up
compared to the large jar and therefore started transferring the energy from the burning paraffin
to the water more quickly. A flaw in the experiment was that it was not performed in a closed
environment, and therefore some of the heat was not absorbed by the calorimeter. This
experiment shows that different materials can improve efficiency, which can be used to reduce
our energy impact as a society as a whole. Additionally, this experiment showed that paraffin is
could not be used as a replacement for the current fossil fuels we use, such as coal and natural
gas. Our calculations showed that paraffin has a molar combustion of 4,165.7 kj/mol, while coal
has a molar combustion of approximately 32,000,000,000 kj/mol. This means that paraffin is not
a viable option for our current energy needs. However, using similar methods to ours, different
compounds, such as biofuels and biodiesels, could be tested to determine if they could replace
the more finite and 'dirty' fuels that currently provide humans with power.