Class: BE210
Group: W4
Members:

Date: May, 2002

Full Text

Abstract:
InThe heats of combustion of glycerine and two commercial extra virgin olive oils, one Greek and one Italian, were determined precisely and accurately with the use of the Parr Bomb Calorimeter.  To reduce systematic error, the energy equivalent (W) of the Parr Bomb Calorimeter was determined though the combustion of benzoic acid.  The mean W for several trials was found to be 2370.36 cal/oC with a standard deviation of +/-69.3 cal/oC.   The heat of combustion of glycerine was found to be 4270.67cal/g with an average standard deviation of +/-78 cal/g.  This value was found to be 0.72 % precise and 1.65 % accurate in comparison with the literature value of 4392.0 cal/g.  The hydroscopic nature of glycerine did not affect these values.  After repeating 5 to 6 trials of each of the olive oils, the average heat of combustion of the Italian olive oil was found to be 9506.4 cal/g with a standard deviation of +/- 223.8 cal/g, and the average heat of combustion of the Greek olive oil was found to be 9369.9 cal/g with a standard deviation of +/-276.2 cal/g.  A t-test showed that the values for the two olive oils did not vary significantly.