What number of peanuts will heat the water faster

[laneo]

1. What chemical reaction will be happening when the peanuts heat up.
2. How many peanut do u think it will take to heat the peanuts.

[Craig_Bridge]

Welcome to the expert forum. I'd like to help but I'm having some trouble understanding exactly what you are trying to do.

How many peanut do u think it will take to heat the peanuts.

From your second question, it sounds likey you are attempting to use peanuts both as a heat source and something you are trying to cook. Your subject line:

What number of peanuts will heat the water faster

indicates you are going to be heating water.

Are you attempting to cook peanuts in a pot of water over a fire that is burning peanut shells?

If you are, then you need to do some literature research on boiling peanuts. How much heat is needed to boil a pot of water will depend on the size of the pot, the ambient temperature, the mass of the water, how much water and peanuts you start with, how long you want to boil them, how windy it is, the starting temperature of the water, and maybe other factors.

How much heat is produced by burning peanuts will depend a lot on how much moisture the peanuts you are burning contain.

Please describe in more detail what you are really attempting to do and what your hypothesis is so we can help you better.

[ScienceExpert123]

dear laneo,

I did a lab in chemistry class last year like this, which dealt with measuring the amount of energy in a peanut. What we did was take a glass (definetly not plastic) flask or beaker and added 100mL of water to the glass and then placed the glass on a metal beaker triangle/beaker holder. We had a cube of aluminum foil; then we took a metal pin (BE CAREFUL) and stuck it into a peanut. The other side of the pin was put into the cube of aluminum (again be careful). We measured the temperature of the water in the beaker/flask. We lit the peanut on fire with a match or i guess you could use a lighter. When the peanut's fire went out we took the temperature of the water again. The difference in temperature before and after the peanut was lit shows how much energy the peanut has (you need to know that for each degree celcius that one gram (100mL of water= 100g of water) of water is raised there is 1 calorie or 4.18 joules (calories and joules are a measurement of energy) needed. For example if the peanut increased the temperature of the water by 5 degrees celcius the peanut would contain 2090 joules or 500 calories (5 degrees celsius x 4.18 joules or 1 calorie x 100 grams of water). Also, when and if you burn the peanut make sure that you have adult suervision, water and a fire extiguisher nearby, and BURN THE PEANUT ON A FIRE RESISTANT SURFACE, such as metal (do not set the peanut on fire on anything made of wood, plastic, plant material, and anything that will burn/go on fire/is flammable). Also, make sure that you wear safety clothing/equiment, such as goggles. Also, the reaction taking place within the peanuts is combustion of the fats in the peanut.

good luck,
scienceexpert123

[Craig_Bridge]

If you are trying to determine how many calories a typical peanut contains as a food source, you should do a search on "Measuring calories in food". Some of the simpler methods involve starting the food on fire in the open and then placing the burning object under a container of water to capture the heat. These simple methods are interesting but not very accurate because not all of the heat produced is transfered to the water. There are more accurate methods that involve using a bomb calorimeter.

[ScienceExpert123]

Dear laneo,

I agree with craig_bridge, but the only thing I want to add is that purchasing calorimeters can be very expensive, so the simpler methods, explained by craig_bridge and myself, should give you a good enough answer to how many calories (how much energy) are in a peanut.