Candle Burning

Overview

Objectives/Goals If I increase the volume of air, then a candle would burn out more slowly. Adding carbon dioxide and oxygen will cause a candle to burn longer. Methods/Materials My first experiment was to put a glowing splint in a jar with hydrogen peroxide and activated charcoal and I found that the glowing splint relit. Then I selected 4 jars of increasing volume from 345cubic cm-1,750 cubic cm. I put a jar over the lit candle and recorded the burn time until the candle went out. I repeated this 5 times and calculated the average for the results. I did the same again with carbon dioxide added by mixing baking soda and vinegar.I repeated the procedure again with oxygen added by mixing hydrogen peroxide and activated charcoal. Results As I increased the size of the glass# volume of air, the candle burned for a longer time and provided more "fuel" for the candle to burn. When I added carbon dioxide I got the shortest burn times with some glasses burning out in less than 50% of the time with regular air. When I added oxygen I got the second shortest burn time. The oxygen results were surprising because I thought the candle would burn longer than regular air when oxygen was added. Conclusions/Discussion When I increased the volume of regular air, the candle had a longer burn time. Adding carbon dioxide caused the candle to have the shortest burn time. Surprisingly, adding oxygen caused the candle to have the second shortest burn time.

Competition history

• CSEF 2011 Physics & Astronomy · Entry J1825

Resources

• CSEF project summary ↗

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