PURPOSE
The purpose of this experiment was to determine the burning rate of various
types of cloth.
I became interested in this idea when I was camping with my friends. I wondered what would happen if my clothes caught on fire, which items would burn the least.
The information gained from this experiment could help people who were camping or worked near fires or flames to choose clothing that would not burn as easily.
My first hypothesis was that cotton would burn the most completely.
My second hypothesis was that cotton would burn the fastest.
I based my hypothesis on a 2001, 6th grade science project by Markus Nelson, “What Kind of Fabric Burns the Quickest?” He found that cotton burned the fastest.
EXPERIMENT DESIGN
The constants in this study were:
•
The amount of cloth in contact with the flame
• The size of the cloth sample
• The temperature in the room
• The stopwatch used
• Size of flame used to ignite cloth
• Measurement methods
The manipulated variable was the type of cloth that was burned
The responding variables were the area of cloth that burned how long it took the cloth to catch fire, and how long it burned.
To measure the responding variables, I used a stop watch to determine the time it took for the cloth to ignite and how long the cloth burned, and I used a transparent 10 by 10cm grid to measure the area of the cloth that burned.
QUANTITY
|
ITEM
DESCRIPTION
|
5
|
10 by 10cm
cotton cloth
|
1
|
candle
|
5
|
10 by 10cm
silk cloth
|
5
|
10 by 10cm
linen cloth
|
5
|
10 by 10cm
wool cloth
|
1
|
10 by 10cm
transparent grid
|
1
|
ring stand
with test tube clamp
|
1
|
box of
matches
|
1. Wash and dry each type of cloth
2. Cut each cloth into 5 10x10 cm squares
3. Hang one square of cotton cloth above the lighter from test tube
clamp on ring
stand
4. Light candle
5. Start the stopwatch to record how long it takes the cloth to catch
on fire
6. Time how long the cloth burns and record data
7. Cover cloth with 10 by 10 transparent grid to find how much of the cloth burned. Record data.
8. Repeat steps 3-7 four more times
9. Repeat steps 3-8 with wool cloth
10. Repeat steps 3-8 with silk cloth
11. Repeat steps 3-8 with linen cloth
12. Average results for each type of cloth
The original purpose of this experiment was to determine the burning rate of various types of cloth.
The results of
the experiment were the Linen took an average of 7.62 seconds to ignite, the
silk took an average of 12.07 seconds to ignite, the wool took an average of
12.81 seconds to ignite, and the cotton took an average of 19.07 seconds to
ignite. Silk took an average of 4.08
seconds to extinguish, wool took an average of 15.23 seconds to extinguish,
linen took an average of 53.90 seconds to extinguish, and cotton took an
average of 57.19 seconds to extinguish.
Silk had an average of 91.7 sq cm left unburned, wool had an average of
88.6 sq cm left unburned, linen had an average of 23.8 sq cm left unburned, and
cotton had an average of 8.7 sq cm left unburned.
My first hypothesis was that cotton would burn the most completely. The results indicate that my first hypothesis should be accepted, because cotton had the smallest area unburned.
My second hypothesis was that cotton would burn the fastest.The results indicated that my second hypothesis should be rejected because
linen burned the fastest.
After thinking about the results of this experiment, I wonder if
the way the cloth is washed or the soap used would change the results of this
experiment.
If I were to conduct this project again I would do more trials for
each type of cloth and I would use more types of cloth.
Researched --
- Adam J
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