Thursday, February 3, 2011

Chemistry in the Designs

Chemistry Vocabulary
reactant-the compounds used initially to make a reaction
product- the chemicals produced after a reaction takes place
limiting reagent- the compound in a chemical reaction that determines how much of the product is formed (this reactant runs out to stop the reaction)
excess reagent- after a chemical reaction, a product is left in excess because the reaction has stopped
combusttion reaction- a chemical reaction in which the only products are carbon dioxide and water

Gas Laws
Boyle's Law: volume and pressure are inversely proportional


 Charles's Law: temperature and volume are directly proportional


Gay-Lussac's Law: temperature and pressure are directly proportional

 

For our cannon design, we had planned to cut the first tennis ball can in half in order to decrease the volume contained in the can. This procedure would double the amount of pressure in the can because volume and pressure are inversely proportional according to Boyle's Law of Gas. After cutting the container, we started to wonder if there would be enough oxygen to carry out the reaction. On the basis of our knowledge of limiting and excess reagents, we knew that oxygen would have to be the excess reagent in the reaction taking place in the cannon as we fired them. The equation below represents the combustion reaction that will occur in the cannon:

C2H5OH+ 3O2 ---> 2CO2+ 3H2O

Ethanol (C2H5OH) would have to be the limiting reagent for our cannon to go as far as it can. In order to test this, we took the following steps to ensure that we would have enough oxygen in the reaction, thanks to the help of Mr. Kelly.
1. Fill the halved can with water until it has reached its maximum height.
2. Repeatedly pour this water into a beaker to measure the volume of oxygen in the container
3. Leave enough space to allow for the nerf ball to fit partially in the chamber
4. Solve for the limiting and excess reagents knowing that there are .400 L of oxygen and .002 L of Ethanol

Below are the calculations we used to solve:








Posted by at

3 comments:

  1. KnasserFebruary 3, 2011 at 5:23 PM

    I liked the simple straightforward explanation of the gas laws and the design reason is good to.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Isai SanchezFebruary 3, 2011 at 7:16 PM

    the whole layout of this looks very well done and its physically appealing. very good explanations; they are clear and concise. plus, the graph gives it a professional "vibe"

    ReplyDelete
  3. jeniferFebruary 3, 2011 at 9:18 PM

    like the explanations

    ReplyDelete

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)