Science Buddies: "Ask an Expert"

I'm testing which lip balm is the best firestarter.
I need to find a way to measure "best"; I can't seem to find anything on how to measure flame strength - I was thinking about using how tall the flame is as well as how long it burns.

Can you point me in the direction of some resources that I could use (or any other ideas? )

Thanks!!

Hi aria12,

Kudos to you for finding a way to measure "best".

I think flame height and burn time are good things to measure. Since you are interested in using lip balm as a fire starter, you could also measure how long it takes for the fuel to ignite once a lighter (or match, etc.) is put next to the fuel. You'll want to be sure to keep all of the variables except the type of lip balm controlled. These would include things like amount of fuel used, amount of lip balm applied, the arrangement of the fuel, where the lip balm is put on the fuel, and how you start the fire, to name a few. And, you'll want to make sure you're safe as you do this project! Be sure to have an adult help you.

Let us know if we can help with anything else.

I was considering measuring x amount of lip balm, then coating something, maybe a cotton swab or some fabric, with that amount, then burning it. Do you think that this is too many elements to the project? Originally, I was going to burn just the lip balm, but then I realized that I'm testing Lip Balm as a firestarter. So, Instead of coating the whole cotton swab or whatever I'm using, should I just coat one end of it?

Thanks so much for your help! I'm trying to start the experiment sometime next week, so I appreciate the quick answer.

Hi aria12,

No, that does not sound like too many elements. Remember that the goal of your experiment is to see how the independent variable (which, in your case, is the type of lip balm) affects the dependent variable (which, in your case, is the time it takes to start burning/burn time). In order to know that the changes you see in your dependent variable are due to changes in the independent variable, all other variables in the experiment need to stay the same for each trial. We call these other variables "control variables". The "elements" you mention are all things you do to keep your controlled variables the same from experiment to experiment.

As far as your experiment goes, I don't think it really matters whether you coat the whole cotton swab or only one end. The important thing is that you use the same amount of lip balm to cover the same area of the cotton swab for each of your experiments.

Oh, that make sense!
A few more questions came up in my ever-churning brain:

How do I know when the cotton swab itself has caught on fire, and is not just surrounded by the flame of the lighter? Does that make sense? Like, when you try to light a candle on fire, and you think that it has caught, but you pull away the match, only to find that the candle is still unlit.

Also, (and this ties into the previous question) how precise should my timing be - .1 seconds? I was thinking of video taping the whole process, then going back and analyzing the film to figure out how long the swabs burned, and when the swab actually ignited.

One more - With regards to burning stuff, what do I put under it to make sure that the surface doesn't catch on fire? Would a new piece of aluminum foil for each trial work?

Thank you again!

Hi aria12,

Good questions!

As far as knowing when the cotton swab has caught fire, I think you are on the right track with the candle analogy. You may have to take the cotton swab out of the flame to see if it is burning. To keep this controlled, you might let the swab sit in the flame for some set period of time (a few seconds, perhaps) and then pull it out to check if it is burning. If it is, then record that time in your notebook. If it is not, then put it back in the flame and try again, keeping track of the total time the swab spends inside the flame before igniting. You will probably need to do a few "test runs" to see how long it takes for a swab to catch fire (see below). Then, you can formalize your procedure and do your whole experiment.

As far as how precise your timing needs to be - it will depend, in part, on how large the differences are between ignition times. Videoing the test might be a good option, as it probably would enable more precise timing. But, if the differences in ignition times are several seconds long, then 0.1 second precision probably isn't needed. This would be another reason to do a few "test runs" before starting the formal experiment. The purpose of a test run is to do a few tests to see if your procedure is reasonable. If the procedure needs tweaking, make the needed adjustments. Then, once you have a procedure that you know works, you can do the full experiment. Basically, it's a way to fine-tune the procedure by getting a ball-park feel for the kind of things you will be measuring (e.g., 0.5 seconds versus 5 seconds versus 50 seconds) and how you will need to measure them (e.g., video camera, stop watch, etc).

And, last but definitely not least, keeping other things from burning is essential. You might try putting a few pieces of aluminum foil over a dinner plate or metal tray. The foil will be easy to change in between trials; the plate or metal tray is not flammable and gives you a buffer between the foil and the surface beneath it. Be sure to have an adult supervising you at all times, and keep a bowl of water handy. And, check with your parents/guardians and teacher to make sure they are OK with the project, too! They may have additional ideas for protecting you and your work area. Safety is absolutely a priority!

I know that the reason that you write a research paper is so that the you know why your experiment turns out the way it does. That being said, I have done sufficient research regarding the fire / combustion aspect of my experiment, but I haven't done enough on the composition of lip balm and why it burns well. I have answered my background research question of "What is the composition of lip balm?", but I know that is not going to give me enough insight as to why a certain brand (different formula) of lip balm burns better than others.

Do I need to do more research on every single ingredient? Or, do I just look up the burning properties of certain ingredients (like petrolatum, wax, butters, etc)? For the latter, I don't know how to find that information - it seems that you can't just Google search "burning bees wax" and come up with relevant info.

Can you give me a few pointers / strategies on how to get the information I need?

Hello:

You might look at "fire testing", such as: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fire_test, http://pslc.ws/fire/flamable/index.htm and http://www.articlesnatch.com/Article/Wh ... uanuObTlB0. One of those references says:

Flammability is dependent on a materials specific heat, thermal conductivity, decomposition and ignition temperatures, and the heat produced (heat of combustion) as the material burns.

You could look up some of these properties for the materials in the lip balm.

Keith

Problem!

I emailed the companies whose lip balm I planned on using asking for the % of petrolatum / beeswax in their product. Each of them couldn't give me the info because it is proprietary.

Do I need to know the % of the ingredient that I think will influence the burning the most? Should I just test beeswax vs. petrolatum?

On a side note, my deadline for finishing my Project Planning (aka Experiment Planning) is today (but I'm flexible because I'm homeschooled), and (of course) I haven't finished yet! I should come up with a hypothesis before I do the experiment, correct? I don't think that I need to come up with a hypothesis before I design an experiment, because no matter what, I'll test it the same way.

They say to have a time cushion because things never turn out the way you plan.....I agree!

How do I measure flame height without burning the ruler? Also, still waiting on answer to above.

Hi aria12,

Yes, you should definitely formulate your hypothesis before doing the experiment.

Bummer about not being able to find out the composition of the lip balms But, companies keep some information to themselves so that competitors don't steal or copy their products. If there is one particular ingredient you think will influence burning the most, then one option would be to make your own lip balm, varying the proportion of that one ingredient in the recipe.

As far as flame height goes, if you are still planning to video the tests, you could set up a ruler or yardstick a behind the place where you will be doing the ignition (far enough away so that it won't burn). Then, orient the camera so you can see the ruler and the flame at the same time. You might introduce a bit of measurement error by doing so but as long as the placement of the camera, flame, and ruler are consistent, you can definitely make comparisons from one experiment to the next.

Hi guys! Thanks in part to the wonderful AAE forum, and the Science Buddies project guide, I was able to win 1st Place at the fair, and since I placed in the top 10% of my grade, I was nominated for the 2014 Broadcom MASTERS!

When asked if I could improve on anything, the judges all said that I should eliminate the "puddle variable."

The "puddle variable" is the part of my experiment when, after the lip balm melts into a puddle, the wick falls over, yet continues to burn. The beeswax-based lip balm puddle was thick, so it didn't give enough space for combustion to continue, so the flame went out. Since petrolatum is an oil-based product, the petrolatum-based lip balm puddle was able to flow away from the wick, and allow combustion to continue longer. Make sense?

Since the nature of the experiment required me to video tape it in order to extract the data (the time when the lip balm was lit and the time when the flame went out), I would be able to remove the "puddle variable" by considering the burn time to be over once the wick fell over.

Would it be considered "redoing the experiment" if I were to re-watch the videos of the experiment, and make a note when the wick fell over? Or would it only count as re-analyzing the existing data?

Once again thanks sooooo much for your help when I started this experiment! I was think about y'all when I went up on stage.

Hi aria12

That's wonderful, exciting news! Congratulations on your success. I think that re-watching the videos to count the time until the wicks fall over you be re-analyzing your data, not re-doing the experiment. You aren't doing a new experiment, you are just analyzing your data in a different way.

One thing to keep in mind is that while this analysis gets rid of the "puddle variable", there may still be a lingering issue: some of the lip balms might soften more quickly than others, which could makes those wicks fall over earlier. This was already a variable in your experiment and original analysis. So, re-analyzing your data definitely helps remove the puddle variable--and that is a wonderful thing. But, keep in mind that there may be a lingering effect from various lip balm's different temperature sensitivities. I don't know how significant that effect could be. If you were able to observe a difference in the "runny-ness" of the different melted lip balms, you could in your analysis section of your report discuss how it might influence your results.

Congratulations again!