Introduction:

The purpose of this experiment is to determine the enthalpy of combustion of a series of primary
alcohols and comparing to its literature value. The hypothesis pf this experiment is when the molar
mass of primary alcohol increases, the enthalpy of combustion of the primary alcohols increases
too. This is because when the molar mass of primary alcohol increases, the number of carbon
atoms in an alcohol increases. The hydrocarbon chain becomes longer. Thus, more heat energy is
required to break apart the extra molecule, CH3, as moving down the homologous group. It is
harder to break a longer hydrocarbon chain compared to a shorter hydrocarbon chain. Therefore,
more energy is required to break the longer hydrocarbon chain. The hypothesis can also be
supported by Van der Waal’s forces of attraction. As the carbon atoms in an alcohol increases, its
mass will increase. This will increase the Van der Waal’s intermolecular forces of attraction among
the alcohol. Therefore, the enthalpy of combustion of the alcohols will increase.
The general formula for alcohol is CnH2n+1OH.
Table 1 shows the molecular formula for the alcohol homologous series
Alcohol Molecular formula
( CnH2n+1OH )
Methanol CH3OH
Ethanol C2H5OH
1-propanol C3H7OH
1-butanol C4H9OH
1-pentanol C5H11OH

As observed from Table 1 when going down the homologous series, the carbon atoms added to an
alcohol increases making the hydrocarbon chain longer and more complex.
Independent variable Dependent variable Factors that cannot be Factors to be kept
controlled constant
Molar mass of Enthalpy of -Change in Room temperature
alcohol combustion of temperature
alcohol -Mass of water
-Distance between
the wick of spirit
lamp and copper can
-same copper can

The independent variable, the molar mass of alcohol can be easily measured from the its formula.
For example, methanol with molecular formula of a CH3OH has a molar mass 32.04 g/mol.
 CH3OH=12.01 + 3(1.008) + 16.00 + 1.008
=32.04g/mol
Five primary alcohol were taken to get five sets of data. This variable is varied as five different
alcohols are compared.

The enthalpy of combustion is the heat energy released when a compound undergoes complete
combustion. The formula for enthalpy of combustion is
mc∆Ɵ
∆H= 𝑚𝑎𝑠𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝑏𝑢𝑟𝑛𝑡 𝑎𝑙𝑐𝑜ℎ𝑜𝑙/𝑚𝑜𝑙𝑎𝑟 𝑚𝑎𝑠𝑠 𝑥 1000

The mass of burnt alcohol= initial mass of spirit lamp – final mass of spirit lamp
m is the mass of water which is a constant variable
c is the specific heat capacity of water
∆ Ɵ is the change in temperature which is a constant variable
The dependent variable changes according to the course of the experiment for example following
the independent variable.
All the variables can be measured and manipulated.