CHM01 Lab: Inorganic Chemistry Laboratory Module

(Week 16)

Title: Calorimetry

Evaluate:

Part I. Instructions. Answer the following items briefly.

1. Why is it important that the stirrer does not create friction?

It is important that the stirrer does not create friction in order to ensure uniform
temperature of a substance, and thus the involved heat exchange calculated will
have a less error.

2. What properties of polystyrene make it a suitable material for a constant-pressure

calorimeter? Why are polystyrene coffee cups not suitable for a constant-volume
calorimeter?

The polystyrene has a good physical and electrical insulating property which
reduces or minimizes the amount of heat exchange between the water in the
coffee cup and the surrounding air. It is not suitable because it is less accurate, it
can’t be used for reaction that involved gas, and can’t be used for high
temperature reactions since it might melt the cup.

3. Suppose that you use concentrated reactant solutions in an experiment with a coffee-
cup calorimeter. Will you make the same assumptions that you did when you used
dilute solutions? Explain.

I think it is, since a coffee cup calorimeter is used to obtain constant pressure
and it is not veritably accurate, so in order to have a more infallible assumption,
bomb calorimeter is being used since it calculates every aspect of the
initialization, firing and final phase precisely.
Part II. Instructions: Solve the following problems on specific heat. You can refer to
Table 1 for the values of the specific heat of common substances.

1. A 90.0-g sample of an unknown metal absorbed 25.6 J of heat as its temperature

increased 1.18°C. What is the specific heat of the metal?

2. The temperature of a sample of water increases from 20.0°C to 46.6°C as it absorbs

5650 J of heat. What is the mass of the sample?

3. How much heat is absorbed by a 2.00 × 103 -g granite boulder ( c granite = 0.803
J/(g·ºC)) as its temperature changes from 10.0ºC to 29.0ºC?