Experiment 3
Comparison of emission levels of ethanol, gasoline, and diesel.
Purpose
From my first and second experiments, I had already learned that ethanol was a cleaner fuel than gasoline and diesel, but I wanted to know how much better it was in numbers and figures.
Hypothesis
I hypothesized that ethanol would have the cleanest burn followed by gasoline and diesel. I based my hypothesis on visual facts from my other two experiments.
Materials used
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Photo: Materials & Model used in Experiment 3. |
A banana stand
A rubber pipe
A funnel
iTX multigas monitor
CDU440 CO2 monitor
Matches
3 aluminum bowls
A support for CDU440
14cm cotton wicks
Gasoline, diesel, and E95
Graduated test tubes
Candles
Variables
Independent variable: type of fuel
Dependent variable: amount of pollution
Constants: wicks, bowls, monitors, air speed, location of monitors
Procedure
- Have 14cm cotton wicks pre-readied.
- Light candle on fire.
- Set up funnel using banana stand as support, then connect funnel to iTX multi-gas monitor.
- Using some sort of support set up the CDU440 carbon dioxide monitor at the same height as the funnel opening
- Place aluminum bowl directly underneath CDU440 carbon dioxide monitor and iTX muti-gas monitor.
- Soak 14cm wicks in 5ml of fuel, in one of the test tubes.
- Set soaked wick in aluminum bowl then light on fire using the candle.
- Record and tabulate the emission levels of ammonia, carbon mono-oxide, carbon dioxide per 5ml of each fuel by reading the displays on the two gas monitors.
- Conduct a total of three trials per fuel to produce accurate results.