Big Bertha

The Big bertha or Whoosh bottle (lame) experiment has been used for many years by various staff members at whs. The Buskers used it as part of the Hot Stuff Roadshow to demonstrate a complete combustion.

The Big Bertha is a fun, slightly dangerous and flashy experiment that is sure to please crowds if done right.

Hopefully once these notes have been properly edited, everyone should be able to do this experiment.

Unedited notes are below here:

Methylated spirits (a few small bottles), big bertha, little bertha's, copper chloride (eh a bit), matches(lighter is better) , splints

Measurements for experiment:

There are none…..

Science behind it: The blue flame that is created by ignition shows that it was complete combustion whereas if it was yellow it would have been incomplete combustion because the flame is colours yellow due to the build up of carbon particles in the flame. There is a small amount of water left after the reaction because the complete combustion creates carbon dioxide and water. This can be proven with a balanced chemical equation.

Basically you put a small amount of methylated spirits in the bottle. Then rotate it to spread it evenly around the edges. This makes sure there is enough air for the ethanol to ignite cleanly. The blue flame that is created by ignition shows that it was complete combustion whereas if it was yellow it would have been incomplete combustion. There is a small amount of water left after the reaction because the complete combustion creates carbon dioxide and water. This can be proven with a balanced chemical equation. 

• Complete combustion

• Blue flame means complete combustion

• Yellow flame means incomplete combustion

• Carbon dioxide and water

• Can be proven with a balanced chemical equation

stuff to say:

• Creating a complete combustion using ethanol as the fuel

• Mixing it so the ethanol creates a mixture of air and fuel so that it creates vapors with the oxegen which allows me to light it.

• When I light it it produces a flame, you can see a blue flame which means a complete combustion.

• There is a little bit of water in the bottle which proves that water is a product of a complete combustion allong with carbon dioxide.

• So thats all very well but we can do it much much bigger.

• This requires much more meths, and it once again gets mixed around to create the air and meths vapor.