Thermo - Calorimetry Lab (Lesson)

Calorimetry Lab

Introduction

In this lesson we will journey through a Calorimetry Lab conducted by students on Chemistry Matters. We will not complete the same lab as the students on the GPS series, but we will use their process to help us better understand the process we will complete in our own Virtual Calorimetry Lab.

Coffee Cup Calorimetry Experiment

The students perform the coffee cup calorimetry experiment, gathering data to determine what compounds work best to create hot and cold packs.

Download the note taking guide for Chemistry Matters Unit 8 Segment E. Links to an external site.

Download the key to the questions to consider for Chemistry Matters Unit 8 Segment E. Links to an external site.

Question

A 70g chunk of metal at 108oC was dropped into a bucket containing 400g of water at 25oC. The final temperature of the mixture was 28oC. What is the specific heat capacity of the metal?

Solution

qmetal = qH2O

mcΔT = mcΔT

-70g (c) (28oC-180oC) = 400g (4.184J/goC)(28oC-25oC)

-70g (c) (-152oC) = 5,020.8J

10,640goC (c) = 5,020.8J

c = 5020.8J / 10,460goC = 0.47J/goC

You will use this same process in the Calorimetry Lab to calculate the specific heat capacity of known and unknown metals.

Calorimetry Lab

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