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A student estimated the temperature of a Bunsen burner flame using the apparatus shown - Edexcel - A-Level Physics - Question 1 - 2023 - Paper 6

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A student estimated the temperature of a Bunsen burner flame using the apparatus shown. The student held the steel screw in the flame and then cooled it in a test t... show full transcript

Worked Solution & Example Answer:A student estimated the temperature of a Bunsen burner flame using the apparatus shown - Edexcel - A-Level Physics - Question 1 - 2023 - Paper 6

Step 1

Identify one safety issue and how it may be dealt with.

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Answer

One safety issue is that the steel screw can get hot during the experiment, which poses a risk of burns. This can be dealt with by using tongs to handle the screw while it is in the flame.

Step 2

Criticise the recording of the results.

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The recording of results has several issues:

  1. There are not enough sets of data recorded to make a reliable conclusion.
  2. The data has inconsistent significant figures, particularly in the mass of water.
  3. The temperature increases lack units, making it unclear what the values represent. Ideally, all recorded temperatures should include units.

Step 3

State one variable that should be controlled for this experiment.

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One variable that should be controlled is the time for heating the screw to ensure consistency in the experiment.

Step 4

Show that the temperature of the Bunsen burner flame is about 1500°C above the initial temperature of the water.

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Answer

To find the temperature increase of the Bunsen burner flame, we use the formula for energy:

E=mchetaE = mc heta

We can set the energy lost by the screw equal to the energy gained by the water:

  1. For the water:

    • Mass of water = 9.9 g
    • Temperature increase = 62 °C
    • Therefore, the energy gained by water: E_{water} = 9.9 imes 10^{-3} kg imes 4180 rac{J}{kg imes K} imes 62 K = 2570 J

  2. For the steel screw:

    • Mass of screw = 4.11 g
    • Energy lost by the screw = Escrew=mimescimeshetaE_{screw} = m imes c imes heta
    • Therefore: E_{screw} = 4.11 imes 10^{-3} kg imes 420 rac{J}{kg imes K} imes heta

Setting energy lost equal to energy gained:

ightarrow 4.11 imes 10^{-3} imes 420 imes heta = 2570$$ Calculating for temperature change $\theta$ gives: $$\theta = \frac{2570}{4.11 imes 420} \approx 1490 K$$ Thus, the calculated temperature of the Bunsen burner flame is approximately: $$\text{Final Temperature} \approx 1510 °C$$ This indicates that the Bunsen burner flame is indeed about 1500°C above the initial temperature of the water.

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