Tallula Rogers
Does a White or Colored Candle Burn Faster?
For my project I found out if a white or colored birthday candle would burn faster. My hypothesis was that a white candle will burn faster than a colored candle. I thought this because the white has no dye so it will burn more smoothly.
My experiment was to see which candle would burn faster; white or colored. The way I conducted my experiment was as follows: First, I measured the candles before starting, and made sure they were all the same height. Next, I set up the candles in clay so they could stand up on their own. After that, my dad lit both of the candles at the same time, while I started the stopwatch for two minutes. When the two minutes were up, I blew them out. Finally, I measured the candles again after they were burnt, and recorded the differences.
There were many data points to this experiment. The first time we tried this experiment, we failed because we measured in the wrong place, not realizing the wick would stay the same. I conducted five trials, each with the candle starting at 5.5 centimeters. I then burnt the candles for two minute increments, up until we reached eight minutes. In order to complete this experiment I added up the end result for each colored candle together, ending up with 12.1 centimeters. I then did the same for the white candles, resulting in 12.5 centimeters. Then I multiplied 5.5 by 5, to symbolize what it would be like if all of the candles were stacked together, and got 27.5 centimeters. Then, I took that number and subtracted the original result of 12.1, the and got 15.4. When I subtracted the 27.5 by the 12.5 for the white candles, and ended up with 15. I then took the change in height of the candles and divided that by the time it took for each candle to burn, and got a final answer of 38.5.
My hypothesis, that the white candle would burn faster, was wrong. On three out of the five experiments, the colored candle burnt more in the time limit. I learned that the colored wax on birthday candles burns faster than the white or clear wax. Some errors that I made were that I couldn’t use straight birthday candles to test, the only ones we could find were swirly.
Procedure
First, I measured all the candles to make sure they were all the same size in the beginning so it would be a fair test.
Next, I put the candles I was testing in a little bit of clay so they could stand up on their own.
Then, I burned the candles for two minutes.
Next I measured the candles I burned and recorded my answers.
I did this four times all adding up to eight minutes.
Conclusion
In conclusion the colored candles burned not much, but a little faster than the white candles.
Hypothesis
My hypothesis was not correct. Before my project, I thought that the white candles would burn faster than colored candles.
Graph
