HOW MUCH ENERGY IS CONTAINED IN A JELLYBEAN?

In this experiment, you will determine the energy and enthalpy changes associated with the
combustion of a jellybean. This will be done through the use of a Parr bomb calorimeter.
Benzoic acid will be used to standardize the bomb calorimeter.

PRELAB QUESTIONS:
1. How many calories are in one jellybean? Convert this value to kJ.
2. You most likely will not be able to find the heat of combustion for a jellybean in the CRC
handbook so what pure substance might a jellybean best be compared to?
3. What is the heat of combustion of that material? Make sure to reference your sources!
4. How good do you think this approximation is for a jellybean?
GENERAL PROTOCOL
The background and procedure for this lab can be found in your textbook (Experiments in
Physical Chemistry by Garland) starting on page 145. The bomb calorimeter manual will also be
available in lab and please ask your instructor or TA for guidance on how to use the instrument if
needed.
PART I:
What is the heat capacity of the bomb calorimeter?

You will be measuring the total heat capacity (𝐶! ) of the instrument by determining the
temperature change that occurs when you combust a sample of benzoic acid. You should
perform this part of the experiment at least twice, but three times if time permits.
You will be recording both the time and temperature approximately every 30 seconds. Once the
data has been collected, you will make a plot of T versus t.
The heat capacity of the system is calculated by the following equation:
𝐶! = ∆𝑈 ∆𝑇 (Eqn. 1)
where ∆𝑈 is the energy released from burning ~1.00 g benzoic acid and ∆𝑇 is the change in
temperature. In order to accurately measure ∆𝑇, it is recommended that you consider Eqn. 22 in
your textbook.
Report the heat capacity determined in each trial as well as the average heat capacity and the
standard deviation of the bomb calorimeter.
You should consider the following:

• The iron wire was also burned in the bomb calorimeter. How should that be accounted for
when calculating Cs?
• What are the units on Cs? What does that mean for your eventual calculation of the
energy of a jellybean?
PART II:
How much energy is contained in a jellybean?

You will be measuring the energy released when a jellybean is combusted. You should perform
this part of the experiment at least twice, but three times if time permits.
You will be recording both the time and temperature approximately every 30 seconds. Once the
data has been collected, you will make a plot of T versus t.
The energy released is calculated by the following equation:
∆𝑈!" = 𝐶! ∆𝑇 (Eqn. 2)
where ∆𝑈 is the total energy released from burning the jellybean and ∆𝑇 is the change in
temperature. In order to accurately measure ∆𝑇, it is recommended that you consider Eqn. 22 in
your textbook.
Ideally we would like to calculate the molar energy (∆𝑈! ) for the combustion of a jellybean, but
we cannot calculate the number of moles directly. Using your answer to Prelab Question 2,
estimate the number of moles in your sample and calculate the molar energy of combustion for a
jellybean. Remember that
∆𝑈! = ∆𝑈!" 𝑛 (Eqn. 3)
where 𝑛 is the number of moles in the sample.
We can also calculate the enthalpy of combustion through the equation
∆𝐻! = ∆𝑈! + 𝑅𝑇∆𝑛 (Eqn. 4)
where ∆𝑛 is the change in the total number of moles of gas in the bomb calorimeter.
You should consider the following:

• The iron wire was also burned in the bomb calorimeter. How should that be accounted for
when calculating ∆𝑈!" ?
• You did not take into account the specific heats of the samples and their products. Does
this affect your calculation of ∆𝑈!" ?
• At what temperature should you report the enthalpy of combustion? Why?
• How does your calculated enthalpy of combustion compare with results in the literature
(consider Prelab Questions 1 and 4)?