Application of Calorimetry to the Determination of the Enthalpy of a Metallic

Oxidation Reaction
3 October 2023
CHEM 1211K Laboratory
I. Abstract
In this lab we will be using a calorimeter to calculate the changes in temperature of certain
reactions. Using the change in temperature we will be able to calculate the change in enthalpy.
A calorimeter isolates a reaction from the surroundings. In this experiment we used a paper cup
and a lid to create this isolation. We will also use principles of thermochemistry. Following the
first law of thermodynamics, the heat given off or taken up by a reacting system is equal to the
change in enthalpy. Then we also need to relate this law to enthalpy, which is done through the
following law, change in enthalpy for a reaction is equal to the heat released or absorbed by
the reacting species at constant pressure.
We will also use Hess’s law to calculate the enthalpy of our target reaction. The law states that
the enthalpy of the process is equal to the enthalpy of each of its steps.
The key results of the experiment are the enthalpy of the zinc and zinc oxide reactions, which
was calculated through the calorimeter’s data. Additionally, we calculated the specific heat of
the calorimeter we used, which was crucial to find the overall enthalpy. In conclusion, we were
able to find that the overall enthalpy of zinc oxide formation was ….

II. Data and Results

Table I.

Trial Cold T (C) Hot T (C) Final T (C) Ccal (J/C)

1 21.5 91 55 173.61
2 21.5 81 49 266.25
3 21.5 80 48 258.53

Mean Ccal 264.92

Standard dev 51.4

Table II.

Trial Initial T (C) Final T (C) Mass solid (g) Volume HCl (mL) ΔH (kJ/mol)
Zinc 22 24.5 0.103 30 -0.6623
Zinc Oxide 22 26 0.4 30 -1.059.68
Table III.

Metal Metal Oxide measured ΔH (kJ/mol) theoretical ΔH (kJ/mol)

zinc zinc oxide -0.5404 -350

III. Discussion

In Part A, we used three trials of water in order to find the specific heat capacoty of our
calorimeter. With this value we can know the amount of heat lost to the surroundings and will
help us have more accurate calculations.

To find Ccal we will isolate it from the following equation, which we can build following Hess’s
law, −𝑞 h𝑜𝑡 =𝑞𝑐𝑜𝑙𝑑 +𝑞𝑐𝑎𝑙

We are left with:

𝑚𝐶 ∆ 𝑇 h𝑜𝑡 +𝑚𝐶 ∆ 𝑇 𝑐𝑜𝑙𝑑

𝐶 𝑐𝑎𝑙 =
∆ 𝑇 𝑐𝑎𝑙
( 20 𝑔 )( 4.184 𝐽 / 𝑔 ℃ ) ( 36 ℃ ) + ( 20 𝑔 )( 4.184 𝐽 / 𝑔 ℃ ) ( 33.5 ℃ )
𝐶 𝑐𝑎𝑙 =
33.5℃
We assumed that the change in temperature of the calorimeter is equal to the change of the
room temperature and then solved for Ccal.
𝐶 𝑐𝑎𝑙 =173.61 𝐽 / 𝑔 ℃

We repeated the same steps for each of the trials and calculated the mean, which gives us
264.92, which is found in Table I. This value will allow us to calculate the overall enthalpy of
Zinc oxide formation.

First, we will calculate the change in enthalpy of Zinc formation with the following equation,
using the values we calculated on part B (Table II) and the specific heat capacoty of Zinc, which
is 0.388 𝐽 / 𝑔 ℃ :

∆ 𝐻 𝐴=𝑚𝐶 ∆ 𝑇 +𝐶 𝑐𝑎𝑙 ∆ 𝑇
∆ 𝐻 𝐴=( 0.103 𝑔 )( 0.388 𝐽 / 𝑔 ℃ ) ( 2.5 ℃ ) + ( 264.92 𝐽 / 𝑔 ℃ ) ( 2.5 ℃ )
∆ 𝐻 𝐴=662.399 𝐽

We can use the same equation for Zinc Oxide and the values found on Table II.
 ∆ 𝐻 𝐵=𝑚𝐶 ∆ 𝑇 +𝐶 𝑐𝑎𝑙 ∆ 𝑇
∆ 𝐻 𝐴=( 0.4 𝑔 ) ( 0.494 𝐽 / 𝑔 ℃ ) ( 4 ℃ ) + ( 264.92 𝐽 / 𝑔 ℃ )( 4 ℃ )
∆ 𝐻 𝐵=1059.8835 𝐽

To reach our target equation, we can use the following equations:

𝑍𝑛+ 2 𝐻𝐶𝑙 → 𝑍𝑛𝐶 𝑙2 + 𝐻 2

𝑍𝑛𝐶 𝑙2 + 𝐻 2 𝑂 → 2 𝐻𝐶𝑙 +2 𝑍𝑛𝑂
𝐻 2 +𝑂 2 → 2 𝐻 2 𝑂

2 𝑍𝑛+𝑂 2 → 2 𝑍𝑛𝑂

We will add them together so that the elements that we are not interested in will be
eliminated. This is why reaction A is multiplied by two and reaction B is multiplied by two and
reversed. To do that we will use the following equation:
∆ 𝐻 𝐷=2 ∆ 𝐻 𝐴 −2 ∆ 𝐻 𝐵 + ∆ 𝐻 𝐶 ,
given that ∆ 𝐻 𝐴 , ∆ 𝐻 𝐵 , ∆ 𝐻 𝐶 , ∆ 𝐻 𝐷are the equations above from top to bottom respectively.

We calculated the first two enthalpy changes above ∆ 𝐻 𝐶 =− 285.8 𝐽 is given.

∆ 𝐻 𝐷=( 2 ⋅662.399 𝐽 ) − ( 2 ⋅1059.8835 𝐽 ) + ( − 285.8 𝐽 )

∆ 𝐻 𝐷=− 1080.77 𝐽

This value is based on our target equation, in which 2 moles of zinc oxide are produced,
meaning we will have to divide that value by two.

∆ 𝐻 𝐷=− 540.385 𝐽
Δ 𝐻 𝐷=− 540.385 𝐽 ⋅
1𝑘𝐽
(
1000 𝐽 )
=0.5404 𝑘𝐽

Since the real value has been measured to be … we can calculate the percent error of our
experiment by comparing the two. Using the percent error formula:

𝛿=
| 𝑣 𝐴− 𝑣𝐸
𝑣𝐸 |
⋅100 %

𝛿= | −540.385 𝐽 − ( − 350.5 )
− 350.5 |
⋅100 %

𝛿=54.175 % This is a very high percentage of error which is very likely due to the inefficiency of
the calorimeter due to the poor “vacuum” as there were openings on the lid of the calorimeter.
Additionally, we could predict this high percentage of error from our change in enthalpy values
of zinc and zinc oxide. Zinc oxide has a higher specific heat capacity but there was a greater
change in temperature, which is contradictory.