WEEK-1

PEER GRADED ASSIGNMENT-1

Q. How much heat (in kcal) is released when burning one molecule of octane (gasoline,
C8H18) completely to carbon dioxide (CO2) and water (H2O)?

Solution:

Let’s start our problem by writing a chemical equation

2C8H18 + 25 O2  16 CO2 + 18 H2O

C8H18 + (25/2) O2  8 CO2 + 9 H2O

We know that the heat of formation for:

 C8H18: -59.2 kcal / mole

 H2O: -57.8
 CO2: -94.1
 O2: 0.0 (by definition of the scale used)
Therefore Heat of formation
∆Hf = ∑ Hf (Products) - ∑ Hf (Reactants)
= {[8*(-94.1)] + [9*(-57.8)]}-[-59.2]
= -752.8-520.2+59.2
= -1213.8 Kcal/mol.
Here the ‘-‘sign indicates that it is an Exothermic reaction.
W.K.T 1 mole 6.023*1023 molecules i.e. Avogadro no of molecules.
Therefore for
6.023*1023 molecules 1213.8 Kcal of heat is required
1 molecule ?
∆H 1 molecule = (1213.8/6.023*1023)
= 201.52* 10-23 Kcal/molecule.

Therefore the heat (in kcal) released when burning one molecule of octane is 201.52*10-23
Kcal.