Question

1)Which fuel was more efficient (produced more calories per gram)? Explain your answer. Fuel canister: (diethylene glycol) or Tea candle: (paraffin) ?

2)Explain the difference in the efficiencies of the fuels you tested based on the chemical structures of the fuels.

3)Conduct research on both diethylene glycol and paraffin wax; for each fuel, summarize in your own words in one or two sentences how these fuels are synthesized. *******Cite the sources that you use for your research.***********

4)What are the possible sources of error in this experiment? How could the errors be reduced in future experiments?

5)Compare the amount of carbon dioxide released in one year from burning coal to power 10, 65-watt incandescent bulbs with the amount released from powering 10, 13-watt compact fluorescent light (CFL) bulbs. Assume the bulbs are on four hours per day for 365 days. You will need to determine the kilowatt hours (kWh) used. First, multiply the wattage of the bulbs by the number of light bulbs to determine the total watts used in one hour. Then multiply the result by time in hours to obtain the watt hours. Next, divide the result by 1000 to obtain kilowatt hours. On average, 2.1 pounds of carbon dioxide are released for every kWh of electricity produced.

Answer 1

ans)

from above data that

1.

Off the two tea candle (paraffin) is the most efficient fuel. The efficiency of a fuel is measured in terms of how effectively it is burnt in air. Tea candle (paraffin) being lower boiling point will be burnt better. On the other hand fuel canister (diethylene glycol) is stabilized intermolecularly through hydrogen bonding present in the structure which inhibits complete oxidation.

2.

The difference in the fuel efficiency between the tea candle (paraffin) and the fuel canister (diethylene glycol) comes from the fact that in case of diethylene glycol the molecules are stabilized greatly by the hydrogen bonding present within the different molecules of the diethylene glycol, thereby making it more stable and less calories are produced when burnt.

3.

The preparation of diethylene glycol is done starting from ethylene. Hydrolysis of ethylene gives diethylene glycol. On the other hand, paraffin wax is a byproduct of petroleum refining.

4.

The possible errors may arise from the water content of diethylene glycol. Paraffin wax on the other hand is highly hygroscopic due to the hydrocarbon chain structure will be easy to handle.