Which Kind of Wood Burns Slower?

Areas of Science	Materials Science
Difficulty
Time Required	Short (2-5 days)
Safety	Adult supervision required.

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Abstract

Do you ever go camping with your family and roast hot dogs and marshmallows over a campfire? If you want your campfire to burn long into the evening, what is the best wood to use? Do research on the necessary conditions/materials to sustain a fire and on the properties of different types of wood. Which properties do you think will be most important for determining how fast the wood burns? For example, how do you think density would be related to burning rate? Why? Measure the density and burning rate of equal-sized samples of different types of wood. For controlled burning conditions, you can either use a torch (with adult supervision) for a specified amount of time (weigh the samples before and after to determine burn rate), or place the wood samples over an evenly-spread bed of white-hot charcoal briquets (time the samples to determine burn rate). (Morgan, 2004; Johansen, 2005; Kelly, 2005)

Bibliography

Johansen, B.R., 2005. "The Flame Game: Which Kind of Wood Burns Faster?" California State Science Fair Project Abstract [accessed April 26, 2006] http://cssf.usc.edu/History/2005/Projects/J1112.pdf.
Kelly, L.E., 2005. "Does Density Affect a Wood's Combustion Rate?" California State Science Fair Project Abstract [accessed April 26, 2006] http://cssf.usc.edu/History/2005/Projects/J1118.pdf.
Morgan, D.W., 2004. "Which Wood Burns the Longest?" California State Science Fair Project Abstract [accessed April 26, 2006] http://cssf.usc.edu/History/2004/Projects/J1129.pdf.

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MLA Style

Science Buddies Staff. "Which Kind of Wood Burns Slower?" Science Buddies, 28 July 2017, https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science-fair-projects/project-ideas/MatlSci_p026/materials-science/which-kind-of-wood-burns-slower. Accessed 29 May 2020.

APA Style

Science Buddies Staff. (2017, July 28). Which Kind of Wood Burns Slower? Retrieved from https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science-fair-projects/project-ideas/MatlSci_p026/materials-science/which-kind-of-wood-burns-slower

Last edit date: 2017-07-28

Experimental Procedure

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If you want a Project Idea with full instructions, please pick one without an asterisk (*) at the end of the title.

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Which Kind of Wood Burns Slower? *

Abstract

Bibliography