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Introduction
Three elements must be present at the same time for a flame to burn:
- Fuel
- Oxygen
- Heat
If any of these elements are reduced or removed then a flame will be extinguished. This experiment uses the DrDAQ’s Oxygen In Air sensor to monitor the oxygen level required to keep a flame burning.
Warning - as this experiment requires the use of matches adult supervision will be required.
Equipment required (See Fig1)
- PC with PicoLog data logging software installed
- DrDAQ
- Oxygen In Air sensor (DD103)
- Temperature Sensor (DD100)
- Bowl of water
- Glass Jar
- Dark Room (for light sensor)
Equipment setup
- Connect the DrDAQ data logger to the parallel port.
- Attach the Oxygen and Temperature sensors to the top of the glass jar. Keep all the sensor leads a safe distance away from the candle.
- Connect the Oxygen In Air sensor DD103 and the Temperature Sensor DD100 to external sockets 1 and 2.
- Configure PicoLog to take a sample every 250 milli seconds for 200 samples.
Fig1: Setup
Carrying out the experiment
- Start PicoLog recording
- Light the candle
- Place the glass jar with the sensors attached over the bowl of water (As seen in Fig1)
- Hold the DrDAQ’s onboard light sensor to the glass jar
- Once the candle has been extinguished leave the experiment to settle for a couple of seconds
Questions
- What two bi-products were produced by the flame?
- At what point did the candle extinguish?
- How does the graph show you that the candle uses oxygen?
- What oxygen level is required to keep the candle burning?
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