IB CHEMISTRY

LAB REPORT




ENTHALPIES OF COMBUSTION OF ALCOHOLS






SUBMITTED BY: Ankon Rahman






Introduction:
The alcohols are a type of organic compounds which contain a hydroxyl (-OH) ion. The standard
enthalpy of combustion is the enthalpy change when one mole of a reactant completely burns in
oxygen under standard thermodynamic conditions. Therefore, enthalpy of combustion of an
alcohol means the enthalpy change when one mole of an alcohol is burnt in presence of oxygen
under standard conditions. For this experiment, three alcohols i.e. methanol (CH
3
OH), ethanol
(C
2
H
5
OH) and propanol (C
3
H
7
OH) are heated in presence of oxygen.
Apparatus:
Clamp and stand
Spirit lamp
Test tubes
Tongs
Measuring cylinder
Thermometer
Balance
Lab coat
Safety glasses

Method:
A measuring cylinder should be filled up with water and the volume should be recorded.
A test tube should be filled up with the water in the cylinder methanol afterwards.
With a clamp and a stand, the test tube should be suspended in a way so that there is
space below it to place the spirit lamp.
The initial weight of the spirit lamp filled with methanol is recorded with the help of a
balance.
The spirit lamp then is place right below the suspended test tube.
A thermometer is placed in the test tube and the initial temperature is recorded.
The spirit is then lit and observed as the temperature of water goes up.
After reaching a particular temperature, the spirit lamp is then blown out and then its
weight is recorded again.
The temperature of water is recorded again.
The above steps are repeated again for ethanol and propanol.


Data Collection And Processing:

Raw data:
In the first trial in case all the three alcohols, the lamps were blown out at 50
o
C. In the
second trials, the same was done at 65
o
C.
The two following raw data tables contain the set of raw data recorded at 50
o
C and 65
o
C
respectively.
Mass (g) 0.01g Temperature of water (
o
C)
0.5
o
C
Initial Final Initial Final
Methanol 173.48 171.67 20.0 57.0
Ethanol 166.11 164.97 20.0 58.0
Propanol 151.63 150.89 21.0 57.0

Table 1: Experimental values recorded when lamps were removed at 50
o
C

Mass (g) 0.01g Temperature of water (
o
C)
0.5
o
C
Initial Final Initial Final
Methanol 171.58 169.62 21.0 71.0
Ethanol 162.59 161.17 21.0 70.0
Propanol 157.93 156.97 21.0 71.0

Table 2: Experimental values recorded when lamps were removed at 65
o
C
Processed Data:

From the raw data, the amount of consumed mass of the alcohols can be calculated by
subtracting the final mass of the spirit lamp from the initial mass.
Mass consumed (g) 0.02g
Final temperature: 50
o
C Final temperature: 65
o
C
Methanol 1.81 1.96
Ethanol 1.14 1.42
Propanol 0.74 0.96

Table 3: Masses of the alcohols consumed in the combustion

The difference in temperature of the water is processed.

T (K) 1
o
C
Take-off temp: 50
o
C Take-off temp: 65
o
C
Methanol 37 50
Ethanol 38 49
Propanol 36 50

Table 4: Difference in Temperature
Now we can plug in these values into our equation to calculate the

Where specific heat of water or c = 4.18 K J
-1
mol
-1


E (kJ)
Take-off temp: 50
o
C Take-off temp: 65
o
C
Methanol 6.2 8.4
Ethanol 6.4 8.2
Propanol 6.0 8.4

Table 5: E in Reaction of Combustion

In order to calculate the enthalpy of combustion, we need one final piece of data: the number of
moles of alcohol used up by the lamp during the process of combustion.

n(alc)
Take-off temp: 50
o
C Take-off temp: 65
o
C
Methanol 0.057 0.061
Ethanol 0.025 0.031
Propanol 0.012 0.016

Table 6: Number of Moles of Alcohol used up in Combustion

With this data, we can derive the enthalpy of combustion (

) by using the equation:

(kJ mol
-1
)
Take-off temp: 50
o
C Take-off temp: 65
o
C Average
Methanol -110 -140 -125
Ethanol -260 -270 -265
Propanol -490 -520 -505

Table 7:

of the 3 Alcohols

Uncertainties and Errors:

For calculating the uncertainty in , the uncertainty in the mass m and the change in
temperature are to be calculated. As c, which is the specific heat capacity of the alcohols is a
constant for each alcohol, it has no uncertainty.
As the calculation is a multiplication, the percentage errors in the mass and the temperature
change are to be added to find the percentage error in the energy change.
Uncertainty in Mass: As the mass is calculated with a digital balance, the uncertainty should be
its smallest unit which is 0.01g. However, the mass used in the calculation is the difference of
two masses, i.e. the difference between the initial and final mass of the spirit lamp. Therefore, to
find the absolute error, the uncertainty is multiplied by 2.
Absolute error = ( 0.01g * 2) = 0.02g
Percentage error = (0.02/1.34) * 100 = 1.50%

Uncertainty in temperature: As the temperature is calculated with an analog thermometer, the
uncertainty should be half of its smallest unit which is 0.5
o
C. However, the temperature used
in the calculation is the difference of two temperatures, i.e. the difference between the initial and
final temperature of the water. Therefore, to find the absolute error, the uncertainty is multiplied
by 2.
Absolute error = 0.5 K * 2 = 1
o
C
Percentage Error = (1/43.3) * 100 = 2.30%

The total percentage error of the calculation is
= 1.50 + 2.30
= 3.80 %
Absolute Error of

:
Alcohol Average

Absolute Error to 1 s.f.

Methanol -125 5
Ethanol -265 10
Propanol -505 20


Conclusion:
The comparison of the actual values of enthalpies of combustion of alcohols and the values
calculated from the experimental data are shown:
Alcohol Calculated value from
the experiment
Actual Value Percentage
Deviation
Methanol -125 -726 82.78%
Ethanol -265 -1367 80.61%
Propanol -505 -2021 75.01%

Table 9: Comparison of Experimental and Actual Values of Alcohols
As observed from the above table, it is seen that with the increase of a (CH
2
-) group, the values
of enthalpies increase. From this it can be deduced that there might be a proportional relationship
between the increasing molecular mass of the alcohols to the enthalpies of combustion.
Theoretically, this deduction can be said to be true, because as there are a higher number of
bonds involved in breaking per mole in the combustion process. As methanol has the least
number of bonds, therefore it has the lowest enthalpy of combustion. Similarly, as propanol has
the highest number of bonds among the alcohols, it has the highest enthalpy of combustion.
The following scatter plots show a comparison between the experimental and actual values of
enthalpies, as the molecular mass increases.


Graph 1: A comparison of the mass versus enthalpies graph of the actual and experimental
values.

From the graphs it can be seen that the actual values of the enthalpies are proportional to the
increasing molecular mass, as the R
2
value is equal to 1. But it is also observed that the relation
between the enthalpies calculated from the experiment are closely proportional as well, as the R
2
value of 0.997 is very close to 1. It is to be noted that the more the value is closer to 1, the more
is the possibility that the y-axis and the x-axis are proportional to each other.

Evaluation
Although the derived values of the enthalpies are significantly deviated, the proportional nature
of the experimental data suggests that the experimental inaccuracies have remained consistent
throughout the experiment.
The first apparent source of such inaccuracies can be said to be the measurement of temperature.
The temperature readings from the experimental data were found to be very low. But it is already
known that a very high amount of heat is released. This high amount was not calculated to
complete extent because heat energy had escaped the system through multiple ways which were
not possible to consider into calculation. A very high amount of heat had been lost to the
surroundings. By taking various measures, the amount of enthalpy escaped to surroundings can
be minimized.
During the process of heating, a higher amount of heat could be propagated to the test tube. This
can minimize the heat loss because it would take a lower amount of time for the process to
complete and in a shorter amount of time, there would definitely be a shorter amount of heat
loss.
The process of measuring the heat change could have been done electronically with the help of a
data logging instrument. In that way, from the cooling curve of the alcohols, the initial and final
temperature could be derived through extrapolation. In this way, more exact values of
temperatures could be calculated which would minimize inaccuracies.