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The Fire Tornado

Joseph Valencia
The Academy of Science and Technology
3701 College Park Drive
The Woodlands, TX, 77381
936-709-3250
Headmaster: Dr. Susan Caffery
Sponsoring Teacher: Mr. Larry Walker
12th Grade
2013-2014

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The Fire Tornado

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Abstract
The purpose of this investigation was to increase the knowledge base of both the nature
of and the effects of fire tornadoes in combustion reactions through the exploration of their
involvement in the height and reaction rate in the combustion of Paraffin Oil.
The fire tornado in this investigation was created by placing a kerosene fuel source and a
cylindrical aluminum screen on a turntable (45 Record Player). The maximum significant height
of the flame for each trial was determined from a hanging rope, and the time that the combustion
reaction took to occur was determined using a stopwatch. Three different tangential wind speeds
were tested for a total of twelve trials were conducted-four at a 0 m/s, four at 0.0995 m/s (33
RPMs), and four at 0.134 m/s (45 RPMs).
While the height was the less conclusive of the two investigations, an ANOVA statistical
test showed that the null hypothesis could be rejected with 98.9% certainty. Two possible models
were found: a linear function where and a polynomial model. An ANOVA statistical test showed
that the null hypothesis could be rejected with 99.0% certainty for the reaction rate as a function
of tangential wind speed. Results showed a perfectly correlated linear fit with the rate as a
function of wind speed. Essentially, rotation caused more bimolecular collisions necessary for
combustion, which effectively increased the concentration of oxygen molecules. From this, the
experimenter was able to conclude that the combustion of kerosene is first order with respect to
the oxygen. The collisions had so great an effect in this investigation that the maximum speed of
the rotation doubled the average reaction rate from that with no wind speed.
The conclusions of this project apply to the spread of and the nature of fires in homes,
forests, and dry areas. Extensions include the investigation of reaction rates of other organic
compounds and repetition of this investigation at greater wind speeds.

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Introduction
A fire tornado, also called a fire whirl is a relatively unexplored natural phenomenon.
While compelling and even beautiful to the eye, these tornadoes have many dangers and
destructive powers. They create strong winds, can hurl heavy objects (which in turn can cause
damage or spread the fire), can speed up the combustion of a substance up to 10 times faster than
normal (Meroney), and can even rapidly spread fire within a home or building. In nature, small
fires can produce a fire tornado in the presence of a shear-an air or fire mass colliding
perpendicularly with another; but a large fire can induce one of these firenadoes on its own
(New, 2012). The fire tornadoes that will be used in this investigation will be red, but some of
these fire devils have even been black and described as shape shifters. According to an
interview by New (2012), these fire tornadoes occur most often in dry, open terrain such as
desert or grassland over previously burnt ground because the previously released heat, combined
with solar heating, create an instability which allows fire tornadoes to easily form due to wind.
Paraffin Oil is commonly known as Kerosene in the United States, and will be the main
fuel source for this investigation. It is a combination of several hydrocarbons with between 9 and
16 Carbon atoms per molecule and has a clear to pale straw color (Occupational Safety &
Health Administration, 2004) and is mostly composed of straight and branched-chain paraffins
and cycloparaffins (Encyclopaedia Britannica, Kerosene). It is a petroleum distillate that can be
used to fuel heaters, lamps, and even jet engines (Encyclopaedia Britannica, Kerosene). Due to
its variable nature, the molecular weight is not definite, but is closely approximated to be 170
grams per mole (Occupational Safety & Health Administration, 2004).

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Purpose
The purpose of this investigation is to increase the knowledge base of both the nature of
and the effects of fire tornadoes in combustion reactions through the exploration of their
involvement in the height and reaction rate in the combustion of Paraffin Oil.
Variables

Independent Variables: Wind speed

Dependent Variables: Height of fire tornado, Combustion reaction rate
Problem
How does the tangential velocity of wind affect the height of a fire tornado? How is the

rate of reaction of the combustion of a Paraffin Oil affected by the tangential wind velocity in a
fire tornado?
Hypothesis
If the wind speed tangent to the average radius of a substance being burned by a fire
tornado is increased, then the height of a fire tornado will sharply increase; and the rate for the
combustion reaction will increase by a measureable amount.
Method
Safety
Butane is a flammable substance. Therefore, when it will be used in this experiment, it will be
treated with the utmost caution and will be kept far away from both the rotational apparatus
and the grill lighter when not in use. Also, the butane will not be pipetted onto a paper towel
until immediately before a trial, which will prevent unwanted combustion.

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The fire dangers associated with this project also pose a threat to the experimenters.
Therefore, all participants will wear lab goggles, closed-toed shoes, long pants, and longsleeved shirts. There will also be a fire extinguisher present, and this experiment will be
conducted outdoors, next to a private swimming pool. Lastly, the ceramic dish will be far
enough away from the researcher during lighting that it will not be hazardous to the
researcher.
Electrical equipment can also be dangerous if exposed to fire. Ergo, the electrical equipment
used for this experiment will be kept as far as possible from the fire source and protected from
the fire, and the turntable (45 Record Player) have a metal layer separating it from the fire.

Materials
Nylon rope
Meter stick
Turntable (45 Record player)
Turntable (Lazy Susan) top layer
Sticky tack
Paper towels
Paraffin Oil (Kerosene) 99%
Duct tape & Scotch tape
5 mL pipette

Cylindrical Aluminum Wire Screen

Ceramic Dish
Stopwatch
Plywood (to be cut into wood blocks)
Nylon rope stand (to be created from wood blocks)
Bic Butane Grill Lighter
LXI Series Belt Drive Automatic Turntable
LXI Series Stereo Integrated Amplifier
Tin snips

Procedure
Part 1 Creation and Setup
The source of the constant-speed rotation for the fire tornado for this investigation is an
LXI Series Belt Drive Automatic Turntable (45 and 33 Record Player) which is powered by an

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LXI Series Stereo Integrated Amplifier. (This system was uniquely designed by Sears Brands,
LLC; which is why the Automatic Turntable must plug into the Amplifier in order to receive
power.) After this, the top layer of the two-layer, metal Lazy Susan must be placed upside-down
(so that the pegs face upwards) on the Turntable so that the centers are concentric. Once this is
achieved, three points along the circumference of the metal should be sticky-tacked to the
turntable so that slipping will not occur during electrically-driven rotation.
Next, the aluminum wire screen should be cut (with tin snips) to a length of 72.25 cm by
91.44 cm (36 inches, which is equal to the width in which it comes in). One of the 72.25 cm edge
should then be bent so that it meets the other 72.75 cm edge, forming a cylinder with about a 1-2
cm overlap. From the excess screen, cut off a 5 cm by 5 cm square and separate the wire strands.
Use these strands to tie the edges of the cylinder together at intervals of approximately every 7
cm along its height. More ties can be used to stabilize the cylinder if needed, as the small
aluminum wires will not significantly affect the air column. Afterwards, using tin snips, cut a
small hole of about 2 cm diameter at a height of about 7 cm from either end of the cylinder. (Be
sure to do this opposite the overlap for easy reference later on.) This will allow the grill lighter to
reach the ceramic dish to light the Paraffin Oil. Place this on top of the Automatic Turntable, with
the pegs from the Lazy Susan on the inside of the circumference of the cylinder (Gurstelle,
2011).
Third in the set up is the creation of the rope stand. Using a circular saw, cut out of the
1.2 cm-thick plywood board blocks of dimensions 34 cm by 3 cm, 61 cm by 3 cm, 61 cm by 3
cm, and 19.5 cm by 26.5 cm. Using wood screws, screw together the two 61 cm-long planks with
about a 10 cm overlap. Next, screw the 34 cm-long plank perpendicular to the top of the new 112

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cm-long plank. Screw the other end of the 112 cm-long plank perpendicular to any point near the
edge of the top of the 19.5 cm by 26.5 cm board. (Two wood screws at 45 angles should be used
for this linkage.) Wrap up the connections with a light-layer of duct-tape for support. The stand is
now complete. Set the stand so that the base (the largest board) slides underneath the Automatic
Turntable and that the tip of the 34 cm-long plank is concentric with the rotation. Using a pen or
a marker, mark the edge of the base board along the edge of the Automatic Turntable. This will
make resetting the rope stand convenient for each trial.
In order to prepare the ropes for the height testing of the experiment, cut the nylon chord
into twelve segments of 109.25 cm in length. Pull on each rope from its two ends to straighten as
much as possible.
Last in the set up is to fold twelve half-paper towel sheets into rectangles that are oneeighth of the original size. These should be made as perfectly rectangular as possible, with few
extensions from the middle layers. The length and width should be recorded and averaged for all
sides of the top layer. Only the average need be reported.
Part 2 Experimentation
Part A Standardization of the reaction rate of the combustion of Paraffin Oil
Wipe down the ceramic dish with a wet rag to remove any and all residue, dry it with
another, then lay one of the paper towel rectangles into the ceramic dish. After rinsing the 5 mL
pipette with the Paraffin Oil, pipette 5 mL of Paraffin Oil evenly throughout the paper towel in
the ceramic dish. Place the dish in the center of the Automatic Turntable and place the screen
over around the metal pegs. Mark a point at which to bend the nylon rope, measure the length

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from this point to the end of the rope, and record this distance in the data table. Place Scotch tape
at the marked point and tape this rope to the stand so that the bend (marked point) occurs exactly
at the end of the rope stand. Next, place the rope stand so that the marking on the base aligns
with the same edge that it was marked on. Stick the grill lighter through the hole in the aluminum
cylinder and light the flame. An assistant will start the timer from the moment that a flame is
seen from the grill lighter and stop it when the flame ceases (NOT when the embers of the paper
towel are finished glowing). Remove the rope from the rope stand, mark the inside of the tape
with a marker, and tape it shut so that the number is preserved. Then, set the rope aside to cool. It
will be measured after experimentation is finished. Repeat the above process three times and
record the times in the data table.
Part B Determination of effect of wind speed on reaction rate of a fire tornado
Part B follows the exact same procedure as Part A with one exception. In this portion of
the procedure, the researcher will light the fire tornado in the same exact manner, then go to the
other box and turn on the Amplifier. This will immediately start the rotation. Therefore, the
assistant, using the lap setting on the stopwatch, will record the amount of time between the
ignition of the fire and the beginning of the rotation. These times will be recorded separately in
the data table. The entire process will be repeated four times at the Amplifier setting labeled 33
Rotations per Minute (0.0995 m/s), followed by four trials of the Amplifier setting labeled 45
Rotations per Minute (0.134 m/s).
Part C Determination of the Maximum Significant Height of the Flame

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After all of the nylon ropes have cooled and the melted, burned, or fused material has
fully solidified, mark the point at which the grey coloring (grey fade) from the flames effect
ends and measure the amount of rope left unburned between this mark and the mark for the
initial bend. Record these measurements in the data table for their respective trials. These
measurements should be taken in random order, as opposed to in order of the trial.

Results

Trial
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12

Wind Speed (m/s)

0 m/s
0 m/s
0 m/s
0 m/s
0.0995 m/s
0.0995 m/s
0.0995 m/s
0.0995 m/s
0.134 m/s
0.134 m/s
0.134 m/s
0.134 m/s

Table 1 -- Average Maximum Height Reached

Height Before Burn (cm)
Height After Burn (cm)
98.80 cm
73.28 cm
98.56 cm
74.40 cm
99.85 cm
60.27 cm
99.38 cm
79.40 cm
98.99 cm
64.12 cm
99.61 cm
68.09 cm
99.30 cm
66.38 cm
98.89 cm
62.18 cm
99.85 cm
59.15 cm
98.70 cm
57.35 cm
98.18 cm
56.24 cm
98.89 cm
56.85 cm

Table 2 -- Reaction Times & Rates

Total Burned (cm)

25.52 cm
24.16 cm
39.58 cm
19.98 cm
34.87 cm
31.52 cm
32.92 cm
36.71 cm
40.70 cm
41.35 cm
41.94 cm
42.04 cm

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Trial

Wind
Speed
(m/s)

Paraffi
n Oil
(mL)

Moles
Paraffin
Oil

Time to
Rotatio
n (s)

Total
Reaction
Time (s)

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12

0 m/s
0 m/s
0 m/s
0 m/s
0.0995 m/s
0.0995 m/s
0.0995 m/s
0.0995 m/s
0.134 m/s
0.134 m/s
0.134 m/s
0.134 m/s

5.0 mL
5.0 mL
5.0 mL
5.0 mL
5.0 mL
5.0 mL
5.0 mL
5.0 mL
5.0 mL
5.0 mL
5.0 mL
5.0 mL

0.024 mol
0.024 mol
0.024 mol
0.024 mol
0.024 mol
0.024 mol
0.024 mol
0.024 mol
0.024 mol
0.024 mol
0.024 mol
0.024 mol

NA
NA
NA
NA
4.35 s
4.79 s
3.85 s
4.87 s
3.08 s
3.07 s
5.77 s
3.29 s

291.76 s
274.59 s
255.04 s
291.39 s
164.85 s
161.12 s
154.87 s
136.68 s
152.53 s
142.74 s
110.62 s
135.46 s

Total Reaction
Time at
Rotational
Speed (s)
291.76 s
274.59 s
255.04 s
291.39 s
160.50 s
156.33 s
151.02 s
131.81 s
149.45 s
139.67 s
104.85 s
132.17 s

Reaction Rate
(mol/s)
8.1X10-5 (mol/s)
8.6X10-5 (mol/s)
9.3X10-5 (mol/s)
8.1X10-5 (mol/s)
1.5X10-4 (mol/s)
1.5X10-4 (mol/s)
1.6X10-4 (mol/s)
1.8X10-4 (mol/s)
1.6X10-4 (mol/s)
1.7X10-4 (mol/s)
2.2X10-4 (mol/s)
1.8X10-4 (mol/s)

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Table 1 shows the relationship between the wind speed tangential to the fire tornado and
the maximum significant height that the flame reached. It is important to note that this is not the
maximum height reached by the fire; rather, it is the height at which the flame had significant
effect in burning the rope. Nylon rope will burn but will fuse or turn grey when influenced by
heat. Thus, the readings of the amount burned-subtractions of the height of the rope after the
burn to the height after the burn-are from measured to the highest point on the rope in which grey
discoloration could be seen. With the understanding that determining where the ending of the
grey fade is a somewhat subjective process, the experimenter randomized the order in which
each of these measurements were made and decided upon the placement of the endpoint with the
same aforementioned criteria each time. The trials were performed in the order in which they
appear on the chart, with four trials of each successive speed (0 m/s, 0.149 m/s, 0.134 m/s). A
sample calculation is shown below.

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Trial 5: HeightBurned = HeightBefore - HeightAfter = 0.9899 m 0.6412 m = 0.3487 m

Table 2 shows the relationship between the tangential wind speed and the average
reaction rate of the fire tornado system. The tangential wind speed was calculated by using the
formula using V=(Ravg)(), where V is the tangential wind velocity for the average radius of the
circle; Ravg is the average radius of all points in a circle, calculated using the formulas Ravg =

2
3 R (Dr. Douglas, 2003) and R=

lw

(derived by setting the area of the circle equal to

the area of a rectangle), where R is the average maximum radius of the circle formed by the
rotation of the rectangular paper towel, l is the average length of the rectangular paper towel
(equal to 7.93 cm), and w

is the average width of the rectangular paper towel (equal to 7.25

cm); and is the angular speed, in radians per second. A sample calculation is shown below.
The time for each reaction was partitioned into two parts-the first being the time between
lighting the wick and the moment that the turntable was turned on, the second being the total
time that Paraffin Oil and wick were burning. In this reaction the rate-determining-step was that
of the combustion of the Paraffin Oil because it prevented the paper towel from quickly burning
up and forced it to act as a wick. In addition to this, another support for the combustion of the
Paraffin Oil being the rate-determining step is that unlike the paper towel, which would combust
under the sole influence of grill lighter, the Paraffin Oil could not be lit by the grill lighter. This
means that the Paraffin Oil had a higher activation energy, and thus, its combustion is the ratedetermining step. With this in mind, the average reaction rate from the first four trials, where

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there was no wind speed, was used to determine the amount of Paraffin Oil (in moles) that was
burned up before the rotation began. Thus, the average reaction rate was determined by using the
number of moles of Paraffin Oil left after the non-rotating reaction divided by the time to
rotation subtracted from the total reaction time. The formula used for this was Rateavg = [n1-(k)
(t1)]/(t2-t1), where n1 is the initial amount of Paraffin Oil (always 0.024 mol, calculated using the
constant 5.0 mL of Paraffin Oil added), k is the constant average reaction time determined from
the average of the four trials without wind (always 8.5x10-5 mol/s), t1 is the time from the
beginning of the reaction to the beginning of rotation, and t2 is the total combustion time of the
reaction. A sample calculation is shown below.
Trial 9: 1A) R=

lw

2A) Ravg =

2
3 R=

( 0.0793 m ) (0.0725 m)

= 0.0428 m

2
3 (0.0428 m) = 0.0285 m

3A) V=(Ravg)() = (0.0285 m)(3/2 rad/s) = 0.134 m/s

1B) Rateavg =

n1(k)(t 1)
t 2t 1

0.024 mol(8.5 e5 mol /s)(3.08 s)

152.53 s3.08 s

1.6X10-4 (mol/s)

Graphs 1A and 1B, labeled Average Maximum Height vs. Wind Speed, shows the
average maximum significant height that the flame reached of the four trials plotted against the
wind speed that the trials were performed at. Due to the closely fitting nature of both graphs,
both graphical interpretations of the resulting heights were included so that the determination of
a fire tornados height as a function of wind speed can be more accurately described. It is
important to note that the Trial 3 (Table 1) is an anomaly among the other trials of its wind speed,

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and has shifted the average height burned to a height significantly higher than all of the other
trials for that wind speed. The slope of the Graph 1A in this case expresses the height in the Ydirection as a function of the wind speed in the X-direction. Graph 1B does not have a constant
slope, but also expresses the height in the Y-direction as a function of the wind speed in the Xdirection.
Graph 2, labeled Average Reaction Rate vs. Wind Speed, shows the average
combustion rate of the fire tornado system with respect to the wind speed that it occurred at. The
best-fitting function for this graph was linear, with the correlation of the graph being perfect1.000, meaning that the best-fit line went exactly through each of the points. The slope of this
line (7.1x10-4 mol/meter) gives the amount of reaction occurred per rotational meter traveled due
to the induced wind.
The primary reaction for this combustion was CxHy(l) + O2(g) CO2(g) + H2O(g). The
Paraffin Oil in this reaction is CxHy(l), a hydrocarbon which varies in composition and structure
(Encyclopaedia Britannica, Kerosene).

Discussion
For Table 1, the first four trials had a range of 19.60 cm, a mean height burned of 27.31
cm, and a standard deviation of 8.513 cm. Thus, Trial 3 was the only trial outside one standard
deviation of the mean for the four trials with no rotational wind. Trials 5 through 8 had a range of
5.19 cm burned, and a mean height burned of 34.01 cm with a standard deviation of 2.267 cm.
While the range of the data at 0.0995 m/s was much smaller than that of the first four trials, two

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trials-6 and 8-were outside one standard deviation of the mean height burned. Trials 9 through 12
had a range of height burned of 1.34 cm, and a mean height burned of 41.51 cm with a standard
deviation of 0.6185 cm. While the trials at this wind speed (0.134 m/s) had the smallest range
and standard deviation, Trial 9 did not fall within one standard deviation of the mean. Thus, by
comparing the ranges and standard deviations, the data suggests that the significant height of a
flame is made more stable and predictable when a fire tornado is present and is induced by a
faster wind speed than other fire tornadoes. While the height was the less conclusive of the two
investigations, an ANOVA statistical test showed that the null hypothesis could be rejected with
98.9% certainty. This means that the presence of a fire tornado causes the maximum significant
height of the flame to be higher with a greater wind speed.
There are a number of errors that could have affected the data in Table 1. The most
notable of these is that the grey fade in the burnt nylon ropes made the marking of the endpoint
of the significant height of the flame difficult to determine, which means that measured height
burned from each trial could have been randomly high or low depending on the discretion of the
researcher. This could have caused a random shift in the overall average of the height burned for
the fire tornado at a particular wind speed. The possibility of the poor researcher discretion is one
of two possibilities that accounts for the relatively extreme height reached by the fire in trial 3.
The other, and more likely, is found in the surroundings of the fire tornado system. Due to the
nature of the experiment, all testing had to be conducted outdoors. While the wind was relatively
calm for the entire testing period, the wind from the outdoors could have picked up and fed the
fire, increasing the amount of oxygen in Trial 3 and preventing the oxygen from being a timelimiting reagent in the reaction. This is supported by the fact that Trial 3s reaction occurred
much faster than the other reactions with no induced wind. Other factors that could have caused

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height measurement error in Table 1 were the fact that the rope may not have been concentric
with the fire tornado due to the fact that the stand may have been misplaced or that the dish may
have been bumped by the grill lighter when it was being lit. Also, the nylon rope originally came
in a coil, and all the bends were not able to be removed and the rope could not be forced into an
entirely straight position. Because of this, the bends above the maximum significant height
burned would have influenced the burn height to be artificially high, whereas the bends below
the maximum significant height burned would have influenced the burn height to be artificially
low. Thus, though there is some error apparent in the measurement due to the bends of the rope,
there is a slight error-cancelling effect due to the two influences. One other source of error in the
rope burning occurred in only Trial 11, where the rope managed to start spinning along the
outside edge of the Aluminum wire screen, causing the flame not to come into contact with the
rope as often as the rest of the trials. This would have made the average burn height artificially
low. Another source of error in this part of the experiment could come from the fact that the
nylon rope actually caught fire and could have falsely augmented the maximum significant
height of the fire. This is unlikely, though, due to the fact that in most cases the endpoint of the
grey fade was far from the part of the rope that caught fire. One last source of error could have
occurred in Trials 5 and 11 where the first attempt at lighting the Paraffin Oil wick failed. A
small amount of the Paraffin Oil could have burned off in the short amount of time that it was
exposed to the butane flame. This could have made the time for these two trials lower than it
should have been, but it only does so in one of the two cases. Trial 11 had the lowest time of all
trials at that wind speed; however, Trial 5 had the greatest amount of time that it took the reaction
to occur in its trials.

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Graphs 1A and 1B show the possible interpretations of the relationships between the
wind speed and the significant height of the fire tornado and contain information that is
important to the applications of this study. Graph 1A shows the possibility of a linear fit, where
the height (in meters) is equal to 0.9718 times the wind speed (in meters per second). If this is
the case, then fire tornadoes have immense power to spread fire. If a fire were to occur on the
floor of a home with a ceiling height of 3 meters, a wind speed of only 3.087 meters per second
(6.906 miles per hour) would be needed to ignite the ceiling on fire. Graph 1B has an even more
dangerous model with this regard-it would only take a wind speed of 0.6685 meters per second
(1.495 miles per hour) tangent to the average radius burning substance in order to make the
flame touch the ceiling. This could also help explain the spread of forest fires. Rather than a fire
climbing up a tree, if wind is present, fire tornadoes could form that could cause the flame to
shoot straight up the tree, igniting branches near the top of the trees. In extreme cases, the wind
above the trees could even carry this fire to other trees, rapidly increasing the spread of the fire.
An extension to this project would be to perform more height-driven tests so that the possibilities
here could be whittled down to a definite relationship between the tangential wind speed and the
height, and thus, the decimating powers of fire tornadoes. Another extension of this project
would be to include the application of Froude Numbers (Encyclopaedia Britannica, Froude
Number) in the investigation of the rotation of the flame within the fire tornado.
For Table 2, the four trials without induced wind had a mean reaction rate of 8.5x10-5 mol
Paraffin Oil per second (mol/s) with a standard deviation of 5.5x10-6 mol/s. Trial 3 was the only
trial outside one standard deviation of the mean for this set of trials. This further supports the
earlier motion that uncontrolled, outdoor wind may have impacted this trial, speeding up the
reaction rate in this case. The trials with an induced tangential wind speed of 0.0995 m/s had a

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mean reaction rate of 1.6x10-4 mol/s with a standard deviation of 1.4x10-5 mol/s. The only trial
that was outside one standard deviation of the mean in this case was Trail 8. Seeing as Trial 8
also had a much shorter total reaction time than the other trials of this induced wind speed, it is
possible that extra outdoor wind may have increased the amount of oxygen flowing into the fire
tornado system, which would have made the reaction rate appear artificially high. The trials with
the maximum tangential wind speed, 0.134 m/s, had a mean reaction rate of 1.8x10-4 mol/s with a
standard deviation of 2.8x10-5 mol/s. Trial 11 was the only trial that lay outside one standard
deviation of the mean for all of the trials at this wind speed. This trial had the all-time minimum
total time that it took for the reaction to occur; and thus, the most logical explanation is that the
oxygen in the air was further induced by wind in the outdoor environment. An ANOVA statistical
test showed that the null hypothesis could be rejected with 99.0% certainty for the reaction rate
as a function of tangential wind speed. This means that in the presence of a fire tornado, a greater
tangential wind speed will cause the Paraffin Oil to burn faster. In fact, the effects of the
tangential wind speed are great enough on this particular reaction that the average reaction rate
doubled between the 0 m/s and 0.134 m/s.
The main error that could have affected the reaction rates is related to the nonconcentricity of the ceramic dish during the trials. In Trial 7, the dish was pushed (during the
lighting process) so that it was slightly off center from the middle of the turntable. By the
formula V=(Ravg)(), this would have increased the tangential wind velocity; however, due to the
shift of the dish, not all of the wind velocity would have been tangent to the Paraffin Oil in the
dish, which would have disrupted the rotational motion. Therefore, the effect on the nonconcentricity of trials where the dish was shifted slightly off of the center was indeterminate. As

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mentioned before, wind could account for some of the trials that lay more than one standard
deviation from the mean.
Graph 2 shows the relationship between the wind speed tangential to the average radius
of the average circle and the reaction rate for the combustion of the Paraffin Oil. This
relationship was concluded to be linear due to the perfect linear fit-that is, the correlation
between the three averages is 1.000 (see Graph 2). Again, the 7.1x10-4 mol/meter slope shows the
extra amount of reaction that takes place for every linear meter of rotation. The reason that this is
significant is because it allows for the skeleton of a differential rate law to be produced and by
the interpretation of the graph. The slope of the graph is the increase in reaction rate due to an
increase in the wind speed, given in moles of Paraffin Oil burned per meter. Because the velocity
is linear, the Paraffin Oil can be thought of as traveling a linear distance in space at a constant
speed during the combustion. Because of the travel, the combustion area experiences an increase
in the number of bimolecular collisions between oxygen atoms and Paraffin Oil atoms. This has
the same effect as increasing the concentration of oxygen gas in the air. Thus, because the
relationship is linear, the differential rate law for this combustion reaction must be first order
with respect to the oxygen gas. Further evidence which supports this conclusion is that if the
reaction were of a higher order than one, the graph would not be linear with the increase in
tangential wind speed, but powered. Ergo, the differential rate law from this reaction takes the
form Rate = k[O2][Paraffin Oil]x; where k is the reaction constant which could not be determined
due to the nature of this experiment; [O2] is the concentration of Oxygen gas in the air in moles
per liter, to the first power; [Paraffin Oil] is the concentration of Paraffin Oil, in moles per liter;
and x is the order of the reaction with respect to the Paraffin Oil.

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The significance to this portion of the project involves the consideration of the rate of
combustion of organic materials. If many other hydrocarbons react like Paraffin Oil, with the
reaction being first order with respect to Oxygen gas, then the presence of fire tornadoes in the
combustion of these materials, such as wood in homes or trees in forests, will increase the rate of
combustion greatly- on the order of a linear function if wind speed is constant, on the order of a
squared function if the wind causing the fire tornado is accelerating. So, all in all, the fire tornado
could be a highly dangerous phenomenon in the rapid destruction of both the home and of the
forest. Some extensions of this project include the following: determination of the effect of
rotational air columns non-concentric to the source of the flame; verifying the results found in
this experiment by repeating the test at different wind speeds-much greater speeds in particular;
determination of k, the reaction constant; determination of the order of the reaction with respect
to the Paraffin Oil; and all aforementioned tests with different organic and/or combustible
substances.

References
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Dr. Douglas. (2003, March 26). Math Forum - Ask Dr. Math. Math Forum - Ask Dr. Math.
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Encyclopaedia Britannica. (n.d.) Froude Number (Fr). Encyclopaedia Britannica Online.

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New, E. (2012) Fire tornadoes: a rare weather phenomenon. Australian Geographic. Retrieved
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