1.

0 OBJECTIVE

1.1 To develop a simple calorimeter

1.2 To determine enthalpy of reaction that difficult to be carried out straight forwardly

2.0 INTRODUCTION

Calorimetry is the science associated with determining the changes in energy of a

system by measuring the heat exchanged with the surroundings. A calorimeter is used
to measure the flow of heat. The main purpose of the calorimeter is to avoid any heat
to be lost from the system to the surroundings.

Hesss Law is saying that the heat change in chemical reaction is the same
regardless of the number of stages in which the reaction is affected. If look at the
change on an enthalpy diagram, it is actually fairly obvious.

Diagram A Diagram B

The diagram shows the enthalpy changes for an exothermic reaction using two
different ways of getting from reactants A to products B.

Diagram A: The enthalpy changes in one step direct conversion only

Diagram B: The enthalpy changes in a two-step process involving some

intermediates.

In the end , the overall enthalpy change must be the same because the positions of
the reactants and products on an enthalpy diagram will always be the same.
 In this experiment, the enthalpy change for the thermal decomposition of
potassium hydrogen carbonate into potassium carbonate is determined. This enthalpy
change cannot be measured directly.

2NaHCO3 (s) Na2CO3 (s) + CO2 (g) + H2O (l)

Instead, we reacted NaHCO3 and Na2CO3 in separate containers with HCl

NaHCO3 (s) + HCl (aq) NaCl(aq) + CO2 (g) + H2O (l)

Na2CO3 (s) + HCl (aq) 2NaCl (aq) + CO2 (g) + H2O (l)

3.0 EQUIMENT AND APPARATUS

Glass stir stick

Beaker (100ml and 400ml)

Thermometer

Graduated cylinder

Chemicals:

Hydrochloric acid solution(HCl) 2M

Natrium carbonate (Na2CO3)

Natrium hydrogen carbonate (NaHCO3)

4.0 PROCEDURE
 Fingure 1 : Simple Calorimeter

4.1 Determination of enthalpy for reaction (i)

1. 30ml of HCl is put into the calorimeter. The calorimeter is stirred carefully with
a glass stir stick until a constant temperature is reached. The temperature is
measured and recorded as a staring temperature, T1.

2. 2.30 gram of Na2CO3 is found accurately and recorded.

3. The solid Na2CO3 is placed into the HCl in the calorimeter and is stirred gently
with the glass stir stick.

4. The temperatures for every 5 second is recorded until the temperatures are
constant.

5. A graph of the temperatures vs times is plotted and the highest temperature, T2 is

calculated.

6. The enthalpy for reaction (i) is calculated.

4.2 Determination of enthalpy for reaction (ii)

1. 30ml of HCl is put into the calorimeter. The calorimeter is stirred carefully with
a glass stir stick until a constant temperature is reached. The temperature is
measured and recorded as a staring temperature, T1.

2. 3.10 gram of NaHCO3 is found accurately and recorded.

3. The solid NaHCO3 is placed into the HCl in the calorimeter and is stirred gently
with the glass stir stick.

4. The temperatures for every 5 second is recorded until the temperatures are
constant.

5. A graph of temperatures vs times is plotted and the highest temperatures,T2 is

calculated.

6. The enthalpy for the reaction (ii) is calculated.

7. With using the enthalpy from the reactions (i) and (ii), the enthalpy for the
reaction (iii) is calculated.

Reference

The physics classroom. Calorimeters and calorimetry. Retrived from

http://www.physicsclassroom.com/class/thermalP/Lesson-2/calorimeters-and-Calorim
etry