 LAWS OF CHEMICAL COMBINATION

A. LAW OF CONSERVATION OF MASS

 “Matter is neither created nor destroyed, it is just transformed from one form to another.”
 The mass(es) of substance(s) before a chemical change is always equal to the mass(es) of substance(s) after
change.
e.g. H2 + O2  H2O
4.0 gram Hydrogen 32.0 grams Oxygen 36.0 grams Water

 Exercises for Law of Conservation of Mass:

1. In an experiment, 2.430 grams of Magnesium metal was ignited and burned with Oxygen in the air. If 4.030 grams of
white Magnesium Oxide powder, MgO, was collected, what was the mass of Oxygen gas that reacted?

2. If Ammonia gas, NH3, and 0.365 grams of Hydrogen Chloride gas, HCl, react to give 0.535 grams of solid Ammonium
Chloride, what is the mass of Ammonia that reacted?

B. LAW OF DEFINITE COMPOSITION OR DEFINITE PROPORTIONS

 “A pure compound is always composed of the same elements combined in a definite proportion by weight.”
 A given compound always shows a fixed proportion. A chemical compound always contains the same elements in the
same percentages by mass. When two elements combine to form a given compound, they always do so in a fixed
proportion.
e.g. C + O2  CO2
27.2% Carbon 72.8% Oxygen 100% Carbon dioxide

 Exercises for Law of Definite composition:

1. From the equation and given percentages above, find for the masses of Carbon and Oxygen if the Carbon dioxide gas
yielded has a mass of 7.34 grams?

2. From the equation and given percentages above, find for the masses of Carbon and Carbon dioxide if the Oxygen
used has a mass of 13.36 grams?

C. LAW OF MULTIPLE PROPORTIONS

 “When two elements combine to form more than one compound, the different weights of one that combine
with a fixed weight of the other are in the ratio of small whole numbers (such as 2:1, 1:1, 2:3, etc.).”
 Exercises for Law of Multiple Proportions:
1. Find for the ratio of the formulas of two different compounds formed from elements C and D which where found out to
have the following compositions:
Element C Element D
First compound 2.276 g. 0.792 g.
Second compound 1.422 g. 0.948 g.

D. LAW OF CONSERVATION OF ENERGY

 “Energy is neither created nor destroyed, it is just transformed from one form to another.”
 In physical changes, the energy applied is energy released during physical change.
e.g.

 In chemical changes, total energy before reaction is the same as energy after reaction.
 UNITS OF ENERGY
 Joule (J) – is the primary S.I. unit of energy. It is defined as the mechanical work done when a force of one Newton
acts through a distance of one meter (1 N.m).
 Calorie (cal) – is the amount of heat required to raise the temperature of 1 gram water by one degree centigrade.
This calorie is also referred to as the thermochemical calorie
 Food calorie (Cal) – is the unit used to determine the amount of energy taken from food equivalent to 1000
thermochemical calories. To distinguish food calorie from the thermochemical calorie, food calorie is abbreviated with
a capital letter “C”.
 Relationship, Derivation or Conversion of Units of Energy:
1 J = 1 N.m = 1 kg.m2/s2
1 J = 0.2390 cal
1 cal = 4.184 J
1 kJ = 1000 J
1 kcal = 1000 cal = 1 Cal
1 Cal = 4.184 kJ
 Exercises for Conversion of Units of Energy:
1. How many Joules are there in 2300 calories?

2. How many food calories are there in 27, 196 Joules?

3. How many Newtons of force was exerted when an object was moved 3 meters consuming 25 Joules of energy?

 SPECIFIC HEAT
 Specific heat – is the quantity of heat (lost or gained) required to change the temperature of 1 gram of a substance
by 1 0C. It is usually expressed in J / g. 0C or cal / g. 0C
 Formula: Specific heat of a substance = Amount of heat energy used
(Mass of substance) (Change in temperature)
 Exercises for Specific heat:
1. Calculate the specific heat of a solid in J/g.0C and cal/g.0C if 1638 J raise the temperature of 125 grams of solid from
25.0 0C to 52.6 0C.

2. Calculate the mass of a substance with a specific heat of 0.2 J/g. 0C and uses 1515 J to raise its temperature from
36.4 0C to 86.9 0C.

☺ Douglas Wilfred N. Rimando, RMT, MSMT