O Level Chemistry: What makes a good fuel?

Combustion_Good Fuel_Chemistry(Photo Credit: pcorreia)

In the previous blogposts we have discussed on Combustion Process being an Exothermic Reaction. This simply means that combustion will provide large amount of heat energy – and this is the energy that is used to support our many activities.

All combustion process give out heat energy. Fuels are burnt to provide us with energy. However, not every chemical substance that burns is a good fuel. For a good fuel, it must gives out a lot of heat energy to the surrounding.

In short, a good fuel should have the following:

  1. Must release a lot of heat energy when it is burnt
  2. Must be safe to use and convenient to store
  3. Must be reasonably cheap and readily available
  4. Must not produce smoke, unpleasant gases or toxic gases

Hope the above information is useful to your learning.

In the next post, i will share with you another way of extracting useful energy from potential fuels, besides combustion reactions.

Stay Tuned!

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One Response to O Level Chemistry: What makes a good fuel?
  1. yumi
    May 9, 2010 | 12:35 am

    Mr Sean, please could u send me

    Reply

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