Lab session 1

The Bunsen Burner

Today for half of our lesson, we learnt how to light a Bunsen Burner and the the hottest to the coolest part of the flame.

DO NOTE TO WEAR GOGGLES AT ALL TIMES WHEN USING THE BUNSEN BURNER. (And tie your hair up)

How to light a Bunsen Burner?

1. Attach the rubber tubing to the gas tap firmly.
2. Close all air holes.
3. Turn the gas tap on completely (Anti-clockwise. You should be hearing a hissing noise)
4. Strike the lighter near the mouth of the barrel of the Bunsen Burner.
5. Slowly open the air holes until they are half open.

There are three types of flame:

1. Luminous flame: The yellow/orange flame
2. Non-luminous flame: The blue flame (part of it is almost invisible)
3. The strike back/roaring blue flame: When there is too much air (i.e., air holes fully opened), the fire burns inside the barrel. (If you encounter this situation, immediately turn off the Bunsen Burner and let it cool.)

What we did:

DETERMINING THE HOTTEST/COOLEST PART OF THE FLAME: HEATING A METAL WIRE UNTIL IT GLOWS AT VARIOUS PARTS OF THE FLAME.

The various parts of the flame we're testing:

(Credits to Classmate Ding Yichen for pic)

Table of results:

Therefore, we can conclude that the hottest part of the flame is the tip of the blue flame. 

NOTE: The flame should not be changed; i.e., you should not adjust the air holes such that you can easily see certain parts of the flame. 

The second part of the lesson...

For the second part of the lesson, we had to do some research on the elements we had "adopted" earlier. So my element is phosphorus: 

(So that it's easier for you to find)

Here are some facts that I've found out so far:

List of sources:

http://www.ehow.com/about_5377208_properties-phosphorus.html

http://chemistry.about.com/od/elementfacts/a/phosphorus.htm

http://www.chemicool.com/elements/phosphorus.html

http://www.merckgroup.com/en/company/discover_merck/periodic_table_of_elements.html * 

*Teacher's recommendation 

My thoughts on today:

I found the Bunsen Burner activity rather interesting as it is the first time that I've used the Bunsen Burner (When the flame came on on my first strike of the gas lighter I got a shock. XD My friend had to take a few tries so I thought I would need a few tries too). It will prove to be a useful skill as quite a number of activities require heating, including my upcoming Research Studies project on E. coli, the Bunsen Burner will be needed to culture the E. coli. (I'll put up the link later on when the experiment gets approved)

Phosphorus proves to be an interesting element and I've learnt more about it, and with this prior knowledge, if there's ever a need to handle phosphorus, I'll know what precautions to take (phosphorus is highly reactive and poisonous).