Analyses

Your basic data for a single measurement will be in the form of temperature as a function of time. This should be plotted in a way that will permit heat gain from, and heat loss to the surroundings to be estimated, as well as the temperature change in the calorimeter system caused by the combustion reaction.

Determine the major sources of uncertainty and error in your determination of the heat of combustion. Compare your data with that published in standard reference works.

Compute the heat of combustion from thermodynamic data for the materials involved in the reaction. Do your measured values agree with the published and calculated data within your estimated uncertainty? If not, explain the observed difference and indicate experimental or theoretical steps that could be taken to understand the difference.