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Experiment: finding out how much energy 1g of different foods have. basically, the question is how can you improve the apparatus? we were told to measure the food by burning it over a bunsen burner and having it under a test tube(with 10cm3 of water) which was in a clamp stand. so the burning food would give off energy and heat up the water. we would measure the temperature of water e 30 seconds. how can this apparatus be improved? thanks. (: what i mean, is to decrease to loss of energy what apparatus can you use, like better equipment..?

The basic flaw with such an experiment is that it takes different amounts of calories to release the flammable components from different foodstuffs, to heat the water, so any result is rendered irrelevant. i got into all sorts of trouble at school, when i pointed this out to my "stinks" master. . . .. fortunately, he was amenable to argument and i won the term prize for chemistry on the back of it. to make the experiment valid, the flammable products should be stored, to cool, after the first heating has released them. the experiment can then be conducted with an accurate outcome. weigh the reduced components, due to the first heating cycle, before using them to heat the water. do not forget there will be a gaseous component, which may or may not be flammable. that means you need a pressurised oxygenating input, to support combustion, and a low pressure output, to release the heated gases after combustion. the water heating process has to be conducted in a partially sealed chamber. . . . which i leave you to devise. . ..