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Gas Service Engineer: Energy content of natural gas Activity card

Students carry out a simple experiment to attempt to work out the energy content of natural gas. Prior to carrying out the experiment the average flow rate of gas from the lab gas taps will need to be measured. This could be done simply with a large gas syringe and a stop watch or by timed collection over water. This should be done by the teacher as asking students to do this may involve large amounts of gas being released into the classroom.

Students will then need to carry out a specific heat capacity calculation. This calculation should be explained to older or more able students. However, if you are carrying out the experiment with younger or less able students it may be best to collect their results in a table on the board and carry out the calculation with class input rather than asking them to work individually.

Remind students to take care with boiling water.

For comparative purposes the energy content of natural gas is taken as an average of 37 MJ/m3. It is unlikely that students results will be close to this and, as an extension, they could be asked to consider the possible errors and uncertainties in their experiment and how they might correct or reduce them if they were to carry out the experiment again.

After completing this activity students will:

• Understand that the chemical potential energy in natural gas can be transformed into thermal energy and light energy by burning.
• Know what the products of combustion of natural gas are and how oxygen supply can affect these.
• Know that natural gas is mostly methane, but also contains other gases such as propane and butane.