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I am going to investigate the enthalpy change of combustion for the alcohol homologous series. I will investigate how alcohols with increasing number of carbons affect the enthalpy change when an alcohol goes under combustion. The energy that alcohols release when being used is called the enthalpy change of combustion. This is defined as "Standard enthalpy change of combustion, is the enthalpy change when one mole of a substance burns completely in oxygen under standard …

…surrounding water and temperature rise is measured. This proves to be a lot more accurate because all of the energy is kept in. Another method is the flame calorimeter in which we need to know the heat capacity. The energy transferred= heat capacity x change in temperature. The apparatus is improved by having having a heat insulated vessel like a vacuum and to stir the reactants. This would decrease heat loss and improve the reaction.