do+color+or+white+candles+burn+faster?

Title
The burning speed of color and white candles.

Problem Scenario
To see which candle burns faster.

Broad Question
which candle color burns faster?

Specific Question
Does color of a candle affect the burning speed?

Hypothesis
The color candle will burn faster because the white candles are used for emergencies and they burn slower so the color will burn faster.

General Plan
What I will do is take the two candles and melt them in two of the same size containers and at the same temperature. I will burn them and see how long it takes for each candle to burn. I will record my info and while they burn take observations.

Potential Problems And Solutions
The size or brand could be different from the other candle you have.

Safety Or Environmental Concerns
There is none.

Experimental Design
= Controlled, manipulated experiment =

What is your experimental unit?
My experiment is including two candles that are different colors but they are the same size and brand.

Number Of Trials:
I will repeat this experiment twice.

Number Of Subjects In Each trial:
There is no subjects being added into this experiment because its just the rate the two candles are burning.

Number of Observations:
It depends on what happens during the burning of the candles.

When data will be collected
Monday, Feb. 11th 2013

Where will data be collected?:
Either my house or kennett middle school.

Resources and Budget Table

 * Item || Number needed || Where I will get this || Cost ||
 * 1 || red candle || Walmart ||  ||
 * 2 || white candle || Walmart ||  ||

Detailed Procedure
1) Get two candles of the same size and brand. 2) One candle will be red and the other will be white. 3) Next you will put them into two heat/fire safe containers. 4)Then start to burn them. 5) Put them both at the same temperature. 6) They will be burnt under a flame and they will be burning at the same time. 7) Take observations while there burning. 8) Then also take observations after the burning period.

Photo List
I will take my pictures while the candles are burning, after their done and before the burning starts.

All Raw Data
See data table above.

Results
For my experiment I took two colors of candles white and red, then burned them until there was no wax left. It took three trials to try and do this experiment and to get a good amount of results to compare. The white candle in all three trials burned faster than the red. The times weren't that far apart though for the first trial the white burned 2,125.25 seconds and the red candle burned 3,000.32 seconds. In minutes it would be 35 minutes 25 seconds and 25 milliseconds for the white and red would be 50 minutes 0 seconds and 32 milliseconds.That's not a big difference!

Conclusion
What happened was I disproved my theory. I thought in my hypothesis that the red candle would burn faster because the chemicals put into the candle to make the color. What actually happened was the white candle burned faster. I thought the white candle would burn slower because they are used for emergency candles when say the power goes out, well that's what people said ,but that's not what happened. So the white candle burned fastest and I disproved my theory.

Discussion
The white candle burnt faster than the red candle. If I continued on with my experiment first choose more variety of colors to burn to make the experiment more fair. What I mean by more fair is to burn other colors than just the red candle so its not as alike as the other candle burning projects. Id also use the other color of candles to make my experiment a little more diverse. The other colors of the candles could also change what the out come of my experiment could turn out to be. The colored candles could have burned faster then the white it also could have still burnt faster you never know what could have happened if I did the project differently. The pattern I saw in this experiment was that of course that the white candle burnt faster than the red. Also while I was watching each trial of the candles burning I noticed something in every white and red candle. Well the white candle while it was burning it burnt the top layer of wax and went to all the other layers. The red candle burnt deeper and then burnt out side ways. I have no clue if that had an effect on the burning of the candles and if I effected the white candle to burn faster or the red candle to burn slower. I was able to answer my question I asked at the beginning. The reason I could answer it is because I did my experiment and I knew after I did the burning of the candles I knew in the second trial I did that the White candle was going to win or burn faster. My experiment didn't have any problems in it and when I did the timing on my phone and my moms it was very easy to stop the timer. So really there was not one problem in my experiment of with collecting my data. This data can be very resourceful to others Because in time of need like in a power outage people in the world will know what candle to use that wont burn quicker or before the power comes back on. So the best choice for the people to pick would be the red candle not the white. What I would change about my experiment would be change the type of candles the candles I got were very cheep and the wax in the candle was very odd compared to wax that I am used too. I would also choose taller and Skinner candles because they were the ones that I wanted to use, but i ended up using the little round candles. If I could redo my experiment I would be a lot more productive by starting my experiment earlier.

Benefit to Community and/or Science
The benefit to do this experiment is that usually White candles are usually used in emergence's because people say that white candles burn slower than colored candles. When I did my experiment I found out that the colored candles burned faster than the white candle. Also I did the experiment three times or three trials and every one that I did was that the white candle that burned faster. This will benefit the community by people choosing colored candles to burn slower in case of an emergency.

Background Research
The candle is a block of wax with a wick in the of middle of the candles. The candles give off light and sometimes heat. It was also used as a method of keeping time. Wax is a block of chemical compounds mixed together to make the wax. There are two main chemicals used to make the wax Paraffin wax and Beeswax. A wick is usually made of braided cotton used to burn in a candle or an oil lamp.The wick of the candle influences the burning of the candle. Candle wicks are also made out of either the braided cotton or the wick could be rolled in bees wax. There are many different kinds of candles like jar candles that you can use in your daily life. Floating candles can be put in a pool or a water source if say you want a romantic evening. Outdoor candles are candle that you use outdoors and they are bigger candles. There are also birthday candles that are colorful and usually very skinny.Before electricity candles were the main source of light and used as heat for homes or buildings. Its also used for giving off a scent in a room and its used in case of an emergency.

Abstract
Does color of candle affect burn speed? My hypothesis was the color candle will burn faster because of the chemicals in the color candle. I disproved my hypthosesis I thougtht that the red candle was going to burn faster but the white candle did.I was very surprised because white candles are normally used for emergency candles like in case the power goes out or you just have no heat or light. What I did in my expeiment was first put two candles on seperate plates a white one and a red one. I then took a lighter and Iighted the candles at about the same time. I wait untill the wax is all liquid record my results and the redo it with the other two trials I have to do. Thats basically it for my experiment. Thats all I did.