Prescribed practical B2 - Investigate the energy content of food
A simple investigation can be conducted to investigate the energy content of a food sample.
Procedure
- Add water - around 20cm3 - to a boiling tube clamped in a retort stand.
- Record the starting temperature of the water.
- Place food sample on mounted needle.
- Ignite the food sample using a Bunsen burner.
- Hold the burning food sample under the boiling tube of water until completely burned 鈥 it may be necessary to relight the food sample.
- Record the final temperature of the water.
- Record results in a table.
- Calculate the change in temperature caused by the burning food sample.
- Repeat steps 1- 8 with this food type to increase reliability.
- Calculate the average change in temperature for this food type.
- Calculate the energy released by this food type using this equation: Energy released (J) = mass of water (g) x rise in temperature (掳C) x 4.2
- Repeat steps 1-8 with different food types for comparison.