Fossil Fuels

Experiment #26 from Investigating Environmental Science through Inquiry

Education Level

Middle School

High School

College

Subject

Environmental Science

Introduction

Hydrocarbons are compounds containing only hydrogen and carbon atoms. Many common fuels such as gasoline, diesel fuel, heating oil, aviation fuel, and natural gas are essentially mixtures of hydrocarbons. Paraffin wax, used to make many candles, is a mixture of hydrocarbons with the representative formula C₂₅H₅₂.

Ethyl alcohol, a substituted hydrocarbon with the formula C₂H₅OH, is used as a gasoline additive (gasohol) and as a gasoline substitute.

Objectives

In the Preliminary Activity, you will determine the heat of combustion of paraffin wax (in kJ/g). You will first use the energy from burning paraffin wax to heat a known quantity of water. By monitoring the temperature of the water, you can find the amount of heat transferred to it (in kJ), using the formula

where q is heat, C_p is the specific heat capacity of water, m is the mass of water, and Δt is the change in temperature of the water. Finally, the amount of fuel burned will be taken into account by calculating the heat per gram of paraffin wax consumed in the combustion.

After completing the Preliminary Activity, you will first use reference sources to find out more about fossil fuel energy before you choose and investigate a researchable question.

Sensors and Equipment

This experiment features the following sensors and equipment. Additional equipment may be required.

Stainless Steel Temperature Probe

Correlations

Teaching to an educational standard? This experiment supports the standards below.

International Baccalaureate (IB) 2025/Biology

C4.2.19—Release of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere during combustion of biomass, peat, coal, oil and natural gas

D4.3.1—Anthropogenic causes of climate change

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Purchase the Lab Book

This experiment is #26 of Investigating Environmental Science through Inquiry. The experiment in the book includes student instructions as well as instructor information for set up, helpful hints, and sample graphs and data.

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