Name: ___________________________________ Yr. & Sec.

: _____________
Instructor: _______________________________ Date: __________________

EXPERIMENT 2
BUNSEN BURNER
The Bunsen burner is an extremely suitable source of heat for the chemistry
laboratory. This device is use for heating, sterilization, and other experiments that
require heating. In 1855, Robert Bunsen created this apparatus to acquire a heat that is
steady, clean and hot which ordinary yellow flames are not. Bunsen’s burner burns
blue and very hot because it is designed to completely combust the gas without
producing soot. It can do this because it mixes the gaseous fuel with air before it starts
to burn.
The three principal parts of the burner are: barrel, needle valve, and base. The
quantity of gas admitted to the burner is controlled by the needle valve, while the air
needed for combustion is admitted at the small opening around the bottom of the
barrel. The air is controlled by turning the barrel so as to make the air holes larger or
smaller.

Learning Outcomes:
 To identify the parts of the Bunsen burner.
 To determine the function of each part of the Bunsen burner.

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  To demonstrate the construction and proper operation of the Bunsen burner.

Materials Needed:
Bunsen burner Rubber tubing Crucible tong
Porcelain dish Powdered charcoal Cardboard
Match

Procedure:
1. Unscrew the barrel of the Bunsen burner and examine the different parts. Clean the
parts, particularly the gas inlet, and put the burner together again. State the function of
each part.
Parts Function
Barrel

Collar

Air hole

Gas inlet

Gas spud

Base

B. Connect your burner to a gas cock with a piece of rubber tubing and light the gas
by holding a lighted match 4 to 5 cm above the burner and turning on the gas cock.
Adjust the gas supply so as to have flame not more than 10 cm high. Close the air
holes and observe the appearance of the flame.

Observation:
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Use a crucible tong to hold a porcelain dish in this flame for 1 to 2 minutes. What is
deposited on the dish?

Observation:
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C. Open the air holes gradually and note the changes in the appearance of the flame
until the burner begins to roar.

Observation:
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Adjust the air intake until the roaring stop. Hold a porcelain dish in this flame for 1 to
2 minutes. Observe if there is a black substance deposited on the dish. If there is,
compare the amount formed in procedure B.

Observation:
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What kind of flame will you use, the first or the second?

Observation:
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D. Display powdered charcoal on the flame and note its effect.

Observation:
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E. Wet a piece of cardboard and hold it vertically in the center of the flame, the lower
end of the cardboard resting against the top of the burner. Remove the cardboard as
soon as it shows a tendency to char, and from the scorched portions note the relative
temperature of different parts of the flame. Draw a diagram of the flame to illustrate
the hottest and coldest region of the flame.

Observation:
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Questions:
1. What are the parts of the Bunsen burner?
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2. What is the black soot deposited on the porcelain?

3. What must be proportionately mixed with the fuel in order to have a non-luminous
flame?
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4. If the flame of the burner is luminous, what will you do to make it non-luminous?
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5. Name the two most important substances necessary for the burner to have a flame.
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Conclusion:
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