Reaction enthalpy

measurement
1. Introduction:

This lab report is to find out the enthalpy change (∆H) of each reaction, as
we know each chemical reaction has an enthalpy change, because
chemical reaction will release or absorb energy to/from the environment
since the chemical potential energy of the reactant and the product is
different, and we can use ∆H to describe this energy change, and this lab
report is to find out the enthalpy change in chemical reaction.

The first reaction is:

NaOH (aq) + HCl (aq) = NaCl (aq) + H 2 O (l)

The second reaction is:

KOH (s) —> K + (aq) + OH - (aq)

The third reaction is:

NH 4 Cl (s) —> NH 4 + (aq) + Cl - (aq)

We can use a formula to calculate the enthalpy change in each chemical

reaction, and we need to measure the temperature change and the mass,
then we can use the formula:

Q=cm∆t

to calculate the enthalpy change of the water.

And according to the conservation of energy, the whole energy of the

system will not change, so the enthalpy change of water is equal to the
enthalpy change of the reaction.
2. Lists of equipments:

1 pipette

2 graduated cylinder

3 Electronic scale

4 thermometer

5 calorimeter (insulated lid, stirring stick, insulated ring, inner vessel,

outer vessel, styrofoam)

6 iron spoons

3 list of material:

1 water

2 HCl: 50.0ml

3 NaOH: 50.0ml

3 KOH: 3 ~ 5g

4 NH4Cl: 3 ~ 5g

4 Procedure

NaOH (aq) + HCl (aq) = NaCl (aq) + H 2 O (l)

1 measure 50ml HCl and 50ml NaOH by graduated cylinder, firstly pour
one of the reactants into the calorimeter. Measure the initial temperature
of the room is recorded.

2 quickly pour the other reactant into the calorimeter and cover the lid,
then use the stirring stick to mix them fully, measure the final temperature
(highest one) and record it on the paper.

KOH (s) —> K + (aq) + OH - (aq)

1 measure 3 to 5g KOH by the electronic scale, measure 50 to 80ml water

by the graduated cylinder
2 pour the water into the calorimeter, then quickly add the KOH into the
calorimeter

3 quickly cover the lid and using the stirring stick to mix them fully,
measure and record the highest temperature of the solution.

NH 4 Cl (s) —> NH 4 + (aq) + Cl - (aq)

1 measure 3 to 5g NH4Cl by the electronic scale, measure 50 to 80ml

water by the graduated cylinder

2 pour the water into the calorimeter, then quickly add the NH 4Cl into the
calorimeter

3 quickly cover the lid and using the stirring stick to mix them fully,
measure and record the lowest temperature of the solution.

5 calculations

I done twice of the whole lab, and I can provide two list of data for
discussion,

NaOH (aq) + HCl (aq) = NaCl (aq) + H 2 O (l)

The volume of both NaOH and HCl is 50ml, and the temperature I measure
is 4.5 degree centigrade.

NaOH (aq) + HCl (aq) = NaCl (aq) + H 2 O (l)

0.55M 0.50M

50ml 50ml

Since the mole number of NaOH is larger than HCl, and the coefficients of
the two reactants are both one, so we just need to use the mole number of
HCl since the NaOH is excess.

0.50M*0.05L=N ———> N*∆H+Q = 0 —————> ∆H = -Q/N

N = 0.025mol m =(50.0mL + 50.0mL)*1.00g/mL=100.g

>>>First time: Q = cm∆T = 4.18J/(g*oC)*100g*4.5oC=1.88KJ

So ∆H = -1.88KJ/0.025mol = -75.2KJ

>>>second time: the ∆T is also 4.5oC, so the result remains the same,
that is -75.2KJ

The reaction will release for 75.2KJ of energy.

KOH (s) —> K + (aq) + OH - (aq)

>>>First time: the mass of KOH is 3.00g, the volume of water is 65.0ml,
so the mass is 70.0ml * 1.00g/ml =65.0g, and the total mass is 68.0g

Q = cm∆t = 4.18J/(g*oC)*68.0g*4.30oC = 1.22KJ

N = 3.00g/(39+1+16)g/mol = 0.0536

∆H = -Q/N = 1.22KJ/0.0536 =-22.8KJ

So, this reaction will release 22.8KJ of energy

>>>Second time: the mass of KOH is 3.00g, the volume of water is

50.0ml, so the mass is 50.0ml * 1.00g/ml =50.0g, and the total mass is
53.0g

Q = cm∆t = 4.18J/(g*oC)*53.0g*4.30oC = 0.953KJ

N = 3.00g/(39+1+16)g/mol = 0.0536

∆H = -Q/N = -0.953KJ/0.0536 = -17.78KJ

So, this reaction will release 17.8KJ of energy

NH 4 Cl (s) —> NH 4 + (aq) + Cl - (aq)

>>>First time: the mass of NH4Cl is 3.00g, the volume of water is 70.0ml,
so the mass is 70.0ml * 1.00g/ml =70.0g, and the total mass is 73.0g

Q = cm∆t = 4.18J/(g*oC)*73.0g*-4.30oC = -1.40KJ

N = 3.00g/(14+4+35.5) g /mol = 0.0561

∆H = -Q/N = 1.40KJ/0.0561mol =-25.0KJ

So, this reaction will absorb 25.0KJ of energy

>>>Second time: the mass of NH 4Cl is 4.00g, the volume of water is

70.0ml, so the mass is 70.0ml * 1.00g/ml =70.0g, and the total mass is
74.0g

Q = cm∆t = 4.18J/(g*oC)*74.0g*-3.50oC = -1.08KJ

N = 3.00g/(14+4+35.5) g /mol = 0.0561

∆H = -Q/N = 1.08KJ/0.0561mol =-19.3KJ

So, this reaction will absorb 19.3KJ of energy

6 Discussion

I think the final result is smaller than the absolute value of the true value
of the enthalpy change

Reason 1: the first two reactions are exothermic, and the final temperature
will be higher than the room temperature, so maybe there are some heat
lost for the container and we will get a lower temperature than the true
value, that will lead to a low ∆t, then lead to calculating a lower ∆Q, and a
lower ∆H. For the third reaction, the room temperature is higher than the
solution temperature, so that there maybe some heat been absorbed by
the solution, so that will lead to a low ∆t, then lead to calculating a lower
∆Q, and a lower ∆H. That is the same situation as the first two reaction.

Reason 2: the reactants may not react fully, because we sometime haven’t
stirred fully, and the reactants can actually react more and release or
absorb more heat and cause a smaller ∆T, that will also cause a lower ∆Q,
and then lower ∆H.

Reason 3: ideally, we can cover the lid in a very short time and that will
not cause a heat lost, but when we doing the lab, it is very hard to cover
the lid in a short time, and there will be some heat lost when we covering
the lid, some heat may transferred in (exothermic) or transferred out
(endothermic), and it will cause a smaller ∆T, that will also cause a lower
∆Q, and then lower ∆H.

How to improve the accuracy of the experiment?

Since the final results are smaller than the absolute value of the true value
of the enthalpy change, we can do some following operations to improve
the accuracy, firstly, we can control the environment condition because
the temperature may fluctuate when we are doing this experiment, and
we can manage to get a constant temperature environment to finish this
lab. Then we can repeat this experiment for multiple times and calculate
their average value, and that we can also eliminate some extreme values
that are irrational. We can also increase the accuracy of the measurement
tool, and that will give us accurate values of the volume of water, the
mass of the reactants and the change of temperatures. we can also mix
the reactants fully before measuring the temperature, and the change of
that temperature will be much more accurate.