Heat of combustion sim
Weigh the burner, light it under 100 g of water in the copper can, stir and read the temperature, put it out and weigh it again.
Heat of combustion · covers the GCSE, IGCSE, O-Level topic
What the sim shows
Weigh the burner, light it under 100 g of water in the copper can, stir and read the temperature, put it out and weigh it again. Q = m c ΔT, where m is the mass of the WATER (not the fuel) and c = 4.2 J/(g °C). The moles of fuel come from the mass burned ÷ Mᵣ; then ΔH = −Q ÷ 1000 ÷ moles. The answer is always much less exothermic than the true value: heat warms the air, the can and the room, and some fuel burns incompletely. A draught shield helps, but never closes the gap. How fast the burner burns and how much heat reaches the water are this figure's estimates of a school result; the true values are data-book values. The clock runs 15 times faster than real time.
- Flame
- Copper can, 100 g of water
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