Ethanol Fueled Cannon Post Lab

1- What are the two baffles in the cannon for?

They are to increase the surface area of the cannon to increase the surface area of the reactants that stick to them. Thereby increasing the rate at which the chemical reaction within the cannon takes place.

2- What purpose did the shaking of the stack of cans have?

It was to mix the hydrogen gas and oxygen together to maximize the chance of ignition.

3- What kind of Energy transformation occurred during the launch?

First the chemical energy was converted into kinetic and thermal energy which heated the barrel of the cannon and moved the cannon ball. At that same moment small amounts of sound and light energy were created as well. The ball’s kinetic energy then changed into potential energy as the ball rose into the air then back into kinetic energy as the ball fell to the ground by this time all the energy was used up to overcome work done by friction and gravity. Small portions of energy are also left behind in the chemical bonds of the newly formed compounds.

4- What other kinds of liquids do you think could be used in place of ethanol?


I think propane would work along with hexane because the are both very reactant when burned in oxygen, and are both used as fuels.

5- Apply one of Newton’s laws that is relative to this experiment. Explain.

Newton’s first law applies most heavily to this experiment because the cannon ball is moving by inertia alone after the initial launch, no force is applied to move the cannon ball forward after. Newton’s first law also applies because the accelerating if equal to force divided by mass (comes from F= MxA) which we need to think about when constructing the cannon balls