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Key concepts and summary

Calorimetry is used to measure the amount of thermal energy transferred in a chemical or physical process. This requires careful measurement of the temperature change that occurs during the process and the masses of the system and surroundings. These measured quantities are then used to compute the amount of heat produced or consumed in the process using known mathematical relations.

Calorimeters are designed to minimize energy exchange between the system being studied and its surroundings. They range from simple coffee cup calorimeters used by introductory chemistry students to sophisticated bomb calorimeters used to determine the energy content of food.

Chemistry end of chapter exercises

A 500-mL bottle of water at room temperature and a 2-L bottle of water at the same temperature were placed in a refrigerator. After 30 minutes, the 500-mL bottle of water had cooled to the temperature of the refrigerator. An hour later, the 2-L of water had cooled to the same temperature. When asked which sample of water lost the most heat, one student replied that both bottles lost the same amount of heat because they started at the same temperature and finished at the same temperature. A second student thought that the 2-L bottle of water lost more heat because there was more water. A third student believed that the 500-mL bottle of water lost more heat because it cooled more quickly. A fourth student thought that it was not possible to tell because we do not know the initial temperature and the final temperature of the water. Indicate which of these answers is correct and describe the error in each of the other answers.

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Would the amount of heat measured for the reaction in [link] be greater, lesser, or remain the same if we used a calorimeter that was a poorer insulator than a coffee cup calorimeter? Explain your answer.

lesser; more heat would be lost to the coffee cup and the environment and so Δ T for the water would be lesser and the calculated q would be lesser

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Would the amount of heat absorbed by the dissolution in [link] appear greater, lesser, or remain the same if the experimenter used a calorimeter that was a poorer insulator than a coffee cup calorimeter? Explain your answer.

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Would the amount of heat absorbed by the dissolution in [link] appear greater, lesser, or remain the same if the heat capacity of the calorimeter were taken into account? Explain your answer.

greater, since taking the calorimeter’s heat capacity into account will compensate for the thermal energy transferred to the solution from the calorimeter; this approach includes the calorimeter itself, along with the solution, as “surroundings”: q rxn = −( q solution + q calorimeter ); since both q solution and q calorimeter are negative, including the latter term ( q rxn ) will yield a greater value for the heat of the dissolution

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How many milliliters of water at 23 °C with a density of 1.00 g/mL must be mixed with 180 mL (about 6 oz) of coffee at 95 °C so that the resulting combination will have a temperature of 60 °C? Assume that coffee and water have the same density and the same specific heat.

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Practice Key Terms 6

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Source:  OpenStax, Ut austin - principles of chemistry. OpenStax CNX. Mar 31, 2016 Download for free at http://legacy.cnx.org/content/col11830/1.13
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