Hesss Law

Hess (the Swiss-Russian Chemist, G.H.

Hess, in 1840) stated one of the most useful
generalization of thermochemistry. A modern
version of this law is, for a given overall
reaction, the change in enthalpy is always
the same, whether the reaction is performed
directly or whether it takes place indirectly
and in different steps.
As an example of Hesss law, consider the
exothermic reaction between sulfur and
oxygen to produce sulfur dioxide, followed
by the exothermic reaction between sulfur
dioxide and more oxygen to produce sulfur
trioxide, as the following reaction:
S(s) + O2(g) SO2(g) H= -296.83 kJ
SO2(g) + O2(g) SO3(g) H= -98.9 kJ

If these two steps are considered to take

place as a simple one-step overall reaction,
the heat evolved is the sum of the two step:
S(s) + 1O2(g) SO3(g) H= -395.73 kJ

Question 1: Based on the Hesss law,

determine the change of enthalpy of carbon
dioxide based on the following reaction:
C(s) + O2(g) CO(g) H= -110.52 kJ
CO(g) + O2(g) CO2(g) H= -283.0 kJ
Homework
Based on the following data and reaction:
H2(g) + O2(g) H2O(l) Hf = -285.83 kJ
CH4(g) + 2O2(g) CO2(g) + 2H2O(g) H=
-890.37 kJ
C(s) + O2(g) CO2(g) H= -393.52 kJ
Calculate the value of Hf of this reaction:
C(s) + 2H2(g) CH4(g)
Hf = -74.81 kJ/mol
Home work:
If we are provided
C + 2S CS2 a kcal;
S + O2 SO2 + b kcal;
C+O2 CO2 + c kcal
Then in the reaction of
CS2 + 3O2 CO2 + 2SO2 + X kcal,

determine the value of X.