Online Stopwatch candle

Purpose of Experiment

• When a burning candle is trapped underneath a jam jar, the candle lasts for a while before going out.
• Do candles inside larger jars burn for longer?
• Does the shape of the jam jar influence the time the candle lasts?

Instructions

Take a Tea Light candle (about 4cm in diameter), as many clean jam jars as you can get hold of and a stopwatch. Set light to the candle and place one jam jar over the candle - start the stopwatch immediately. Stop timing as soon as the flame disappears. (If you can, try and estimate the height of the flame when the candle is burning.)

Measure the volume of the jar with water and a measuring cylinder. If you want to repeat the experiment, dry the jar and make sure that it is full of 'fresh' air.

At the start you will need to enter your LEA and School codes (if you are unaware of these please contact us).

You'll be asked to enter your age, gender and, only if your teacher has given you one, a project code. Use the online form and interactive pictures to enter your results before selecting 'submit'.