Shounok Saha
Chemistry 35 IA
Personal Engagement Many people, or possibly everyone, have been in a power outage before, where everything just shuts off and goes completely dark to the point where items are not very visible to the eyes anymore. In this situation, you would either get a flashlight or light a candle. But, I am going to see what the best candle to use for a power outage (blackout) is. I am going to eplore which candle wa will burn the longest and provide the most light over a period of time because is in many cities power outages are a fre!uent occurrence. "or eample, in #haka,Bangladesh, a power outage occurs twice or more a week and in Minya,$gypt, power outages occur every two%three hours per day.
In &outheast 'anada and eight ortheastern .&. states eperienced a blackout and were without power. It lasted for up to two days and turned out to be the biggest blackout in orth *merican history. +ower outages are becoming more common in orth *merica due to severe weather. Exploration
I will be doing an eperiment with three types of waes and burning them for a certain amount of time and calculate how much they melt per minute. I will also be looking at each of the waes chemical formula and eplaining why one is lasting longer than the other or melting the fastest. Question
-ow does the type of wa impact the length of time it is able to provide light during a blackoutpower outage/
Shounok Saha
Prediction
Beeswa%% '01-20'33'24-50
+araffin wa6 ' 71-17
&oybean oil is hydrogenated into soy wa% 01%08 'arbons
9he molecular structures of each wa are sort of similar and they are all pretty much chains of carbon and hydrogen. 9he main reason why something will have a high melting point and last longer is because the substance has many carbon atoms in it. 'arbon atoms form covalent bonds, which are very strong and the reason why a substance has a higher melting point. &ince the beeswa has the most carbons than the other waes, I believe that the beeswa will last the longest and provide more light over a period of time. 9he soy wa has the least carbons in it than the other waes, which makes me believe that the soy wa will last the shortest amount of time and have the lowest melting point.
Shounok Saha
Experimental Design
Manipulated :ariable% the different types of waes ;esponding :ariable% which wa has the least burn rate and lasts the longest 'ontrolled :ariables%same container volume for waes, same atmospheric pressure, left the candles burning for the same amount of time, same lighter Materials
%Beeswa %&oy wa %+araffin wa %silver candle containers %mass balance %lighter I did not make each of the waes the same mass because I measured the melting rate(gminute) of each wa. But, I did keep the volumes of the containers the same. I burned the waes for a total of 74 minutes each.
DATA ANA!"I"
#esults Candles
Initial Mass$g%
&inal Mass$g% (after being burned for 74 minutes)
Melting #ate $g'minute% (Initial mass%"inal mass)74 minutes
Beeswa
02.<0
02.45
4.4=71
&oy >a
00.?2
04.82
4.4=?4
+araffin wa
00.<8
00.40
4.4114
*s you can see from the data chart, the soy wa has the greatest melting rate and the beeswa has the lowest melting rate. 9he paraffin wa has a greater melting rate than the beeswa, but a slower melting rate than the soy wa. 9his means that the beeswa
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will give last longer than the paraffin wa and soy wa, the soy wa will last the least amount of time, and the paraffin wa will last longer than the soy wa, but not longer than the beeswa.
(urning o) the Candles *+er a ,- Minute Time Period
"lope o) the (ees.ax @ %4.4=71 "lope o) the "oy .ax @ %4.4=?4 "lope o) the Para))in .ax@ %4.4114
9he slope values are negative because it shows the decrease of the mass of each wa. 9he beeswa has the greatest slope, but since it is negative, the number closest to 4 in this case has the slower melting rate. 9his graph shows that soy wa still has the faster melting rate than rest of the waes used. 9he graph also shows that the mass of the soy
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wa is decreasing faster than the other waes used and that the mass of the beeswa is decreasing the slowest out of the waes used.
Pie Charts that sho. the percentage o) ho. much o) the .ax .as melted and ho. much o) the .ax .as le)t untouched /0.ax melted ,0.ax untouched (ees.ax 120melted
0.85
1 2
13.06
Para))in .ax 20melted
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0.96
1 2
11.01
"oy .ax 420melted
1.1
1 2
10.73
9hese pie charts show the percentage of the masses that have been melted off each wa. *nd, soy wa has the greatest percentage melted, meaning that it lost more of its
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mass than the other waes and the melting rate of the soy wa is higher than the other waes. 9he beeswa has the least percentage melted, meaning that is has more mass left than the other waes used and it has the lowest melting rate out of all the waes used in this eperiment.
Conclusion'E+aluation
9hrough this eperiment I figured out that beeswa will last the longest and be the most efficient during a blackoutpower outage and that soy wa will last the least amount of time and will not be too efficient for a blackoutpower outage, making my prediction correct. &ince the beeswa had so many carbon atoms forming covalent bonds, it had a higher melting point making it last longer and also making it the best option for a candle. 9he soy wa did not have as much carbon atoms as the beeswa or paraffin wa, causing it to have the lowest melting point out of the waes used in the eperiment. "trengths@ 9his eperiment was very simple and did not take many materials at all. 9he procedure was very smooth and simple, I just had to light the candles and time them for 74 minutes. *lso, the calculations and measuring part of the eperiment was not very hard as well. ea6nesses@ In orth *merica blackoutspower outages are not too common. *lso, in the modern era we live in today, we have many other sources of light such as phones, laptops, and flashlights. &o, the candle would possibly be a last resort for a source of light during a blackout power outage in orth *merica. 9he cities that usually have fre!uent blackouts power outages are cities that have many hours of daylight such as #haka, Bangladesh.
Shounok Saha
>orks 'ited % http@www.power%technology.comfeaturesfeaturethe%04%worst%blackouts%in%the%last% 14%years%==?5<<4
% http@www.citylab.compolitics74024?get%ready%more%nightw%without%power5172
% http@globalvoicesonline.org74014278lights%out%in%many%global%cities%power% outages%are%part%of%everyday%life
%http@www.beeswaco.combeeswa%facts.php
% http@www.chemikinternational.comwp%contentuploads74020472.pdf
% http@www.soya.besoy%wa%production.php
% http@candles.lovetoknow.com>hatAIsAtheA'hemicalA'ompositionAofA'andleA>a
Shounok Saha
%http@www.candlescience.comlearningwhat%is%soy%wa
