DISCUSSION:
The above graph applies to trial 1. It shows that the time for the wood to catch fire was directly proportional to the concentration of NaHCO3 in 50mL paint. The more NaHCO3 added, the longer time taken for the wood to catch fire. This experiment also tested the amount of CO2 which increased as the concentration of NaHCO3 increased. The difference between the normal paint and the paint containing chemicals was that the duration of the flame was from high/furious to weak and eventually invisible. Especially in figure 9, when 16g NaHCO3 in paint was decomposing, the lighter’s flame could not be seen despite the fact that gases was still being produced by heating.
In trial 2, the fire in both tests was weak, even disappeared but the heat was still continuing to burn the woods. The compressions were as results of the organic compounds in the woods lost their water (the combustion of derivatives of hydrocarbon). The paint with ash took longer and less damage than the paint with NaHCO3 even though only 10grams of ash was added to paint while NaHCO3 was added 20 grams. This means that in 10 grams of ash, the amount of KHCO3 was very high. Moreover, ash is noticeably superior than NaHCO3 in retarding fire.