Generation of Heat and Products

If one is able to collect the combustion products after a combustion experiment, the combustion temperature can be determined from the energy conservation relationship for the reactants and products. For example, when iron and potassium perchlorate react to produce heat, the reaction products and heat of reaction, Q(r), can be determined by reference to thermochemical tables (NASA SP-273). In this case, the reaction of iron (0.84 mass fraction = 0.929 moles) and potassium perchlorate (0.16 mass fraction = 0.071 moles) is represented by 

and is obtained as 1845 K for the 0.929Fe + 0.071 KCIO4 reaction. Though the identities of the combustion products are assumed in this computational process, the results are useful for estimating the overall thermochemical properties of complex pyrolants. 

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