A Thermodynamic Approach on the Engineering Marvel

Behind Food Packagings

Gia Gemeno
Vince Michael Go
Paolo Aiman Ramirez
John Rebo Santos
Department of Mining, Metallurgical, and Mining Engineering
University of the Philippines - Diliman
Quezon City, Philippines
psramirez1@up.edu.ph

Gemeno, G., Go, V., Ramirez, P., and Santos R. (2019)

 Abstract— Thermodynamics – branch of physical
science that explains the relations between heat and
other forms of energy and this concept is significant in
food packaging industries, This aims to determine the
scientific mechanisms behind a food packaging’s
ability to maintain the temperature of food products by
investigating and determining its thermodynamic
properties. Three experiments were done to obtain the
necessary data for this experiment and these are;
cooling curve gathering experiment, specific heat
gathering experiment and coffee-cup calorimetry. The
XRF analysis and literatures shows that aluminum lid
has a high percentage of aluminum while the
polyethylene lid was fully polyethylene; and the
commercially used lid (its surface) was a polyvinyl-
chloride polymer and the inner part is unknown. The
aluminum foil at cooling curve and specific heat
experiment obtained an experimental specific heat
(J/g°C) of 1.93 (114.5% error) while a value of 3.55
(86.7% error) for plastic; and theoretical specific heats
of 0.92 and 1.90, respectively. Thermodynamic
mechanisms involved in the ability of food packaging
in the experiment were first law of thermodynamics
and conservation of energy.
Keywords— Thermodynamics, Coffe-cup
Calorimetry, XRF Analysis, Cooling Curve and
Specific Heat
I. INTRODUCTION
Thermodynamics is something that can explain the
mechanism behind a lot of processes. May it be how an air
conditioner works or how you cook your food. With that
came the inspiration for this special project. College
students devote most of their time studying for exams or
finishing up the given requirements. They hardly ever had
time to do chores which includes preparing their own
meals. So, for sustenance, they often resort to anything
that is instant. One specific example of this is the trend of
eating instant noodles. This became the inspiration behind
this special project.
The researchers designed the experiments performed
for this project specially to answer the following
problems: what are the thermodynamic mechanisms
involved in the ability of food packaging to cool down
food, as well as, in keeping it warm?, and consequently,
determine the more efficient food packaging in terms of
maintaining high temperature (that mainly cooks the food)
through investigating its thermodynamic properties.
The coffee cup calorimeter used in measuring the
specific heat of the two materials is an adiabatic system.
This means that no heat enters or escapes it. Following
the first law of thermodynamics: the conservation of
energy, the equation below holds true:
(1)
Where , , and are the
heat lost or gained by the material, the calorimeter and
the water, respectively.
The equation above can also be expressed in terms of
the specific heats of the components of the system:
(2)
Where , , and
are the masses
, , and are the specific
heats
is the initial temperature of the material
is the initial temperature of the calorimeter
And is the final equilibrium temperature of the
system
Due to constraints in terms of time and resources, this
project aims to tackle a limited scope and hereby focusing
on: the thermodynamic abilities of food packaging,
specifically, aluminum and plastic, the usage of a coffee-
cup calorimeter for the determination of the specific heat,
and the usage of only water, instead of actual food.
This project aims to determine the scientific
mechanisms behind a food packaging’s ability to maintain
the temperature of food products by investigating and
determining its thermodynamic properties.
II. METHODOLOGY
This experiment needs the following materials;
sample lids, XRF machine, thermometer, polyethylene,
devised coffee-cup calorimetry and aluminum foil.
Three experiments were done to obtain the
necessary data for this experiment and these are; cooling
curve gathering experiment, specific heat gathering
experiment and coffee-cup calorimetry.
A. Cooling Curve
2 g each of aluminum foil and plastic cover were cut
out in the shape of the mouth of the noodle cup (circular).
The sheets were thin enough that their thicknesses were
negligible. Two set-ups were constructed: one noodle cup
with an aluminum foil as the lid and another with the
plastic cover as the lid. Deionized water was heated in the
beaker placed on the hotplate. The temperature of water
was 74°C for both set-ups when it was transferred from
the beaker to the noodle cup. This was to ensure same
initial temperatures in the cooling curves. Afterwards, the
noodle cup was immediately covered with the Figure 2. Schematic Diagram of Procedure for XRF
corresponding lid fixed in place with a rubber band. A Analysis of the Samples
schematic diagram of the set-up is shown in Figure 1
below. A thermometer was stuck in the lid deep enough to
reach the water in the cup in order to record its III. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
temperature in 10-second intervals for 5 minutes.
The following figures presented shows the elemental
B. Specific Heat analyses of the lids used in the experiment;
Figure 2 below shows a schematic diagram of the
coffee cup calorimeter used to measure the specific heats
of the two lids of different materials. First, the calorimeter
was calibrated. The calorimeter was weighed on the
analytical balance. Its specific heat was measured by
pouring 100 mL of heated water, with its initial
temperature recorded using a thermometer, into the
calorimeter. The calorimeter’s initial temperature was also
recorded but with a thermal gun instead of a thermometer.
The system could reach equilibrium temperature by setting
it aside for 10 minutes. Afterwards the equilibrium
temperature was recorded using the thermometer
submerged in the water inside. With the specific heat of
water known (a constant 4.186 J/g°C), the specific heat of
the calorimeter was calculated to be 17.01 J/g°C. Figure 3. Elemental Composition of Aluminum Lid
Meanwhile, to measure the specific heats of the aluminum
foil and plastic cover, about 0.5 g of each material was The elemental analysis of the aluminum lid used
weighed and formed into a ball. The ball was tied to a in the experiment shows a high percentage of aluminum
string of negligible mass. Before it was submerged in the (79.33%), followed by iron and gallium with 10.20% and
water in the calorimeter (as shown in Figure 2), its initial 6.26% respectively.
temperature was measured using the thermal gun. The
same procedure with the calibration step was followed.

Figure 4. Elemental Composition of Plastic Lid

Figure 1. Set-up for Coffee-cup Calorimetry
The elemental analysis of the polyethylene lid
used in the experiment shows a complete composition of
C. Elemental Analysis using XRF
polymer and according to literature the lid used is fully
The obtained sample mounted on the sample polyethylene.
holder and placed in the XRF machine for analysis. Then,
data was retrieved and recorded.

Scratch and cut samples.

Mount sample on sample holder.

Analyze sample in XRF for 4 mins.

 Figure 7. Cooling curve of water covered by Aluminum
foil lid

Figure 5. Elemental Composition of Commercially Used

Lid (Surface)

The elemental analysis of the Commercially Used

Lid (Surface) used in the experiment shows a high
percentage of chlorine (89.23%) followed by polymer part
and according to literature the lid used is a polyvinyl-
chloride polymer.

Figure 8. Cooling curve of water covered by plastic lid

To understand why this was the case, the specific

heats of the two lids were calculated using a coffee cup
calorimeter. Table 1 below shows that aluminum foil has a
specific heat lower than the plastic. This means that the
plastic lid takes in more heat for its temperature to rise one
degree than the aluminum foil. This can explain why the
water was observed to cool more quickly when plastic lid
Figure 6. Elemental Composition of Commercially Used was used.
Lid (Second Layer)
IV. CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS
The elemental analysis of the Commercially Used
Lid (Second Layer) aluminum (52.44%) followed by The XRF analysis and literatures shows that
polymer part and according to literature the lid was aluminum lid has a high percentage of aluminum followed
devised by the owners’ formulation. by iron and gallium respectively; while the polyethylene
lid was fully polyethylene; and lastly, the commercially
The cooling curves below show the time vs Used Lid - surface was a polyvinyl-chloride polymer and
temperature graph of the water inside the noodle cup the Second Layer was devised by the owners’ formulation.
sealed by aluminum foil (figure 1) and by a plastic lid
(figure 2). The water cooled down from 74°c to 66°c for The below present the properties of the
the aluminum foil and from 74°c to 63°c for the plastic lid experimented lids and the percent errors was from the
after 300s. Based on the slope of the best fit line to the values of materials that was found from XRF analysis.
graph, the cooling rate of the water was calculated to be
0.0265 °c/s for the aluminum foil and 0.0373 °c/s for the Table 1. Specific heats of Aluminum and Plastic lid
plastic lid. This means that the water cooled faster inside
the cup noodles with a plastic lid. Material Experimental Theoretical Error
specific heat specific heat (%)
(J/g°C) (J/g°C)
Aluminum 1.93 0.92 114.5
foil
Plastic 3.55 1.90 86.7

The thermodynamic mechanisms involved in the
ability of food packaging to cool down food, as well as, in
keeping it warm are first law of thermodynamics and
conservation of energy.
. States: McGraw-Hill.
REFERENCES
[1] Motin, M. A. (2004). Temperature and Concentration
Dependence of Apparent Molar Volumes and
Viscosities of NaCl, NH4Cl, CuCl2, CuSO4, and
MgSO4 in Pure Water and Water + Urea Mixtures.
Journal of Chemical & Engineering Data, 49(1), 94–
98. doi:10.1021/je0340957
[2] Smith, J., et. al. (2004). Introduction to Chemical
Engineering Thermodynamics, (7th ed.). United
[3] D. Edmonds. Specific Heat Pre-lab. St. Louis
Community College. Floroissant Valley. Retrieved
December 15 2019 from
http://users.stlcc.edu/dedmonds/labs/pdfs/specificheat.
pdf
 Specific heat
MASS
Aluminum plastic
0.5795 0.4377
0.5797 0.4356
0.5797 0.4351
0.5796333333 0.4361333333
Calibration
100 mL water
water 4.186 J/g°C
degC
calorimeter 24.8 57.5
water 70 64
calorimeter 17.00832755 J/g°C
Specific heat calculation
mass
filled calorimeter 102.2038
water 97.68793333
Temperature
initial final
Aluminum 67.2 23.8
water and calorimeter 23.7 23.8
initial final
plastic 55 23.6
water and calorimeter 23.5 23.6
specific heat theoretical percent error (%)
aluminum 1.930860848 J/g°C 0.9 114.5400942
plastic 3.546868848 J/g°C 1.9 86.67730781

APPENDIX

Table 2. Table for Calculated and Raw Data