Page 68 - Big Ideas Year 10 sciPAD 2025

PHOTOCOPYING PROHIBITED
© Silverback Academic Media
68 SCIPAD - BIG IDEAS - BOOK 2
FUELS AND CLIMATE CHANGE
A P P R O X I M A T E V O L U M E S
Tea-light candle
Complete Combustion
When fuels react with oxygen (in air) they burn, releasing a lot of
energy as heat. Scientists call the burning of fuels combustion.
When the supply of oxygen (O2) is plentiful, fuels undergo complete
combustion. Complete combustion produces carbon dioxide
(CO2) and water (H2O). Both of these products will be gases.
Complete combustion can be observed in the laboratory simply
by opening the air hole of a Bunsen burner after it is ignited.
The general word equation for complete combustion is:
Fuel + oxygen carbon dioxide + water
Air hole open
Blue coloured,
barely visible
flame
Limewater
Ice and water
Direction of gas flow
To pump
Testing for Products of Combustion
Aim: To detect the products of combustion.
Equipment: Retort stand, boss head and clamp, funnel, tea-light candle, glass tubing, two
boiling tubes, two double-holed rubber bungs, test tube rack, beaker, ice, lime
water, pump.
Method: 1. Set up the equipment at shown in the diagram.
2. Light the tea-light candle and position it underneath the funnel.
3. Start the pump.
1. (a) Outline what you observed happening in the first boiling tube. 

(b) State what this shows: 
2. (a) Outline what you observed happening in the second boiling tube. 

(b) State what this shows: 
3. Complete the word equation for this reaction.
Wax + Oxygen +
Unchecked Sample Pages
For Review Purposes Only - Photocopying Prohibited
www.scipad.co.nz