Quote:
Originally Posted by kevinthenerd
I think I found my error. While acetylene has a positive enthalpy of formation, it produces less CO2 and H2O, resulting in less heat on the product side of the reaction.
(By the way, it's been a couple of years since I took chemistry. I just got to thinking how hot welding gas gets. I think it has to do with the fact that the output heat doesn't have a whole lot of mass to heat up, resulting in a high temperature.)
|
Oxy-Acetylene produces high temps because of the pure oxygen you feed it. It means the 80% nitrogen that's usually along for the ride and taking home heat isn't involved.