Determination of the Heat of Combustion of Tryptone


Class: BE210
Group: R1
Members:   FACILITATOR…………………………Nina Teng

                     TIME & TASK KEEPER………………Geeta Bhargave
 
                      SCRIBE……………………………….. Frank Casey

                      PRESENTER…………………………..Fahad Haque

                      COMMUNICATOR…….……………..Briseyda Morales

Date: May, 2001

Full Text

Abstract:
The objective of this experiment was to determine the heat of combustion of tryptone precisely and accurately using the Parr Bomb Calorimeter, and to observe whether precision and accuracy vary with the mass size of the pellet.  In order to determine the energy equivalent, W, of the calorimeter, the combustion of benzoic acid was carried out three times.  The mean W value for the three trials was found to be 2471.1 cal/°C with a 95% confidence interval of ± 37.3 cal/°C.   Twelve combustion trials using tryptone were performed with three different mass sizes:  0.5g, 1.0g, and 1.5g.  The mean heat of combustion was found to be 4894.7 cal/g with a 95% confidence interval of ± 92.1 cal/g.  Although it was determined using t-tests that the accuracy between the three masses were not statistically different, the precision increased with an increase in the mass of the pellet.  The heat of combustion of tryptone that was calculated using the composition was found to be 3935 cal/g with an uncertainty of ± 2.118 cal/g.  The mean experimental value differed from the calculated value by 24%.