Candle Burn Lab Report

Introduction
A candle is a lightsource now mostly used for decorative and ceremonial purposes. It consists of wax, tallow and similar slow burning material. Candles are usually made in a cylindrical form but can be made with fanciful designs, enclosing and saturating a fibrous wick (Britannica School, Candle). A candle, when in use, burns when the heat from the flame liquefies the wax near the base of the wick. Using capillary action, liquid from the wax flows upward and is then vaporized by the heat of the flame. The flame is the combustion of the wax vapor (Britannica School, Candle). The earliest method of candlemaking to make a simple candle was to dip the wick into melted wax or fat and removing it to let it cool and solidify in the air

The hypothesis for the experiment was if the type of wax being used in the candles are different, then some candles will burn longer than other candles made with different waxes, because different waxes burn at different rates. The evidence that was collected in the experiment accepted the hypothesis because if both trial one and two soy candles were left to burn until there had no mass left, they would be the fastest burning candles. The trial one candle would have taken 148 minutes at 0.06 g/min, or 2 hours and 28 minutes. The trial two candle would have taken a similar amount of time with 150 minutes at 0.06 g/min, or 2 hours and 30 minutes. Another piece of evidence from the experiment that accepted the hypothesis was if both trial one and trial two beeswax candles were also left to burn until there was no mass left, they would be the slowest burning candles. The trial one beeswax candle would have taken 136 minutes at 0.04 g/min or 2 hours and 16 minutes. The trial two beeswax candle would have taken a little longer to burn until it had no mass, with 152 minutes at 0.04 g/min or 2 hours and 32 minutes. One more piece of evidence that accepted the hypothesis was if both trial one and two palm candles were also left to burn until there was no mass left, the trial one palm wax candle would have taken 117 minutes at 0.07 g/min or 1 hour and 57 minutes. The trial two palm wax candle would have taken the longest to burn until there was no mass left with 220 minutes at 0.04 g/min or 3 hours and 40 minutes. Therefore, the types of wax being used in candles do burn at different