Water temperature in an experiment

[Kristin]

I am writing a lab report for an experiment that I did in class last week and there are 2 questions that elude me.

The experiment was heat of combustion where water was heated using a candle. The water was to be chilled to be 10 degrees less than room temperature and heated to be 10 degrees above room temperature.
Was was the purpose of this? I assumed that it was to control the variables in the experiment.


Also if a more refined calorimeter was used would the result show to be higher or lower than by just using a regular thermometer? I think that the results would show to be higher as the thermometer would register the temp increase after the candle was extinguished (as the heat absorbed by the can would continue to transfer into the water. Does this sound right? Thanks for any help. My assignment is due this Wed so any info before that would be great!