Richard Zhao

Lab Report
Per. 4
Objective: To determine the percent alcohol by volume needed to ignite
Background Discussion: Alcohols burning point by volume percent can be determined
by using a guess and check method. By measuring specific volume ratios of distilled
water and alcohol and homogenizing the resulting solution, one can determine the
threshold for percent volume of alcohol needed to ignite.
Materials Used: Beakers, pipette, matches, 99% ethyl alcohol, graduated cylinders,
distilled water
Procedure: The required materials were taken to the workstation to begin
distilling and igniting. The beaker was filled with a measured amount of ethyl
alcohol and then diluted to 20 milliliters. The solution was then mixed back and
forth between and test tube in order to homogenize it. Twelve different trials were
taken. The same percentages were tested multiple times for ratios that were
nearing the threshold. The data was then recorded, where it was then established
that alcohol will ignite at ~37% by volume.

Data:
Mass Reading
3.91g
5.50g
7.07g
7.92g

Beaker: Mass of 25.86g

Volume of Ethyl Alcohol
5ml
7ml
9ml
10ml
We calculated density using the data from the 10ml of ethyl alcohol
because human error would affect that trial the least.
7.92 g
=0.792 g / ml
10 ml
So the density of the ethyl alcohol is 0.792g/ml

Percent volume of alcohol

50
20
30
35
40
39
38
37
38
35
37
36

Ignited
yes
no
no
no
yes
yes
yes
no
yes
no
yes
no

Analysis: It was observed that 37% ethyl alcohol by volume was the threshold for
igniting. By using the calculated density, we could also find the percent by mass needed
to ignite by assuming the density of the distilled water was 1.00g/ml.
.37 20 ml=7.4 ml ethyl alcohol
20 ml solution7.4 ml ethyl alcohol=12.6 ml distilled water
7.4 ml ethyl alcohol

0.792 g
=5.861 g ethyl alcohol
1 ml

12.6 ml distilled water

1g
=12.6 g distilled water
1 ml

The mass percentage needed is given by:

5.861 g ethyl alcohol
=31.75 ethyl alcohol by mass
5.861+12.6
The actual percent volume to ignite is 40%. Therefore, the percentage error is given by:
3740 100 =7.5
40

Discussion of Errors: It was found that the order in which the alcohol and water were
poured together affected the observed burning. That is, the solution was not properly
homogenized. Two trials of igniting 37% ethyl alcohol were performed: when the

solution was lit, the first trial had the alcohol poured into the water, while the second trial
had the water poured into the alcohol. The first trial clearly ignited, while the second trial
seemed to only light for half a second. Therefore, it was concluded that the solution
needed a way to properly be homogenized.
It was also observed that there was human error in measuring out the volume of ethyl
alcohol and distilled water needed for each trial. The measurements could have been as
much as 1ml off.