Calorimeter Experiment

Discussions and Scientific Explanations

The first goal of this project was to first construct a calorimeter. The second goal was to measure the heat capacity of the constructed calorimeter. The third and fourth goal was to determine what reactions were to be investigated and what variations of the reactions would be studied. The two requirements that were kept in mind while creating the calorimeter were that it should be a good insulator, meaning that it does not allow for the transfer of heat between two systems in an environment, and that it should have the lowest heat capacity possible (ideally 0C) so that the calorimeter absorbs as little of the heat energy produced as possible. The calorimeters produced by the experimenters were constructed
In order to find the heat capacities, the heat gain and heat loss had to be found as well. The heat capacities were established by heating up a beaker of 25 mL of H2O on a Bunsen burner until its temperature measured anywhere from 95-99C. The hot water was then placed in the calorimeter and soon joined with 25 mL of cold water. The temperature of the 25 mL of cold water (from the tap) was measured and was added to the hot water, making sure that the lid was closed and that the thermometer was inserted into the hole at the top. The temperature of the mixture of the hot and cold water was taken and recorded in a spread sheet along with the initial temperature of both the hot and cold water. The heat loss of the hot water was calculated by taking the mass of the water and multiplying it by the difference between the temperature of the hot water and the final temperature of the combination of both and then multiplying that by the temperature of water (4.184 C joules/gram). The equation of the heat loss was and the equation for the heat gain was calculated by plugging the values for the cold water with the formula . These two equations calculated the heat gain of the cold water throughout the reaction and the heat loss from the hot water from combining it with the cold water. As discussed in a page titled Heat Capacity2, the heat capacity is defined as the amount of heat it takes to raise the temperature of a substance by one degree (in this case C). In the experiment performed in lab, the heat capacity of the calorimeters was calculated by subtracting the heat gain from the heat loss and then dividing that by the difference in the temperatures between cold water and the combination of the hot and cold water, . The heat capacity of each calorimeter was calculated twice and then averaged in order to get the most accurate heat capacities. A heat capacity of zero is ideal because