UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY JAMAICA

Principles of Physical Chemistry

CHY2018

Laboratory Report
Lab #2 Experiment 11
Title:

Thermochemistry: Enthalpy of Vaporization of water from

Vapor Pressure Measurements

Date:

September 14, 2012

Lab Lecturer:

Dr. G. Harewood

Names:

Kemoy Francis 0803681

Avis Ross

Aim: To determine the enthalpy of vaporization of water from the

measurement of its vapor pressure at various temperatures.

Abstract

The enthalpy of vaporization represents the amount of energy required to expand the volume of a
liquid material to that of its gas. This magnitude reflects the strength of the intermolecular forces
between its molecules. Vapor pressure on the other hand is the pressure exerted on the inside of a
container due to the vapors that escape from a liquid.
The Clausius-Clapeyron equation relates the temperature variation of the vapor pressure

H vap
of a liquid to it Hvap. This equation can be written as: ln p =
R

( T1 )

+C

In this experiment the vapor pressure of water was measured for a number of different
temperatures. The ln P of water was then plotted versus 1/T and the slope of the resulting line is
equal to -Hvap/R. From this, the enthalpy of vaporization of water could be calculated. The
enthalpy of vaporization of water was found to be
In this experiment, a known quantity of air was trapped under water and kept at constant
pressure. The air quickly became saturated with water vapor. The temperature of the liquid
water was varied and the changes in the volume of the trapped gas mixture were then recorded.
The change in volume resulted from the thermal expansion of the constant amount of air and by

the variation in the amount of water vapor. From this data, the vapor pressure of water was
calculated for each temperature.

Procedure:
A small volume of air was trapped in an inverted 10.0cm3 graduated cylinder which was
immersed in a beaker filled with distilled water. The temperature of the water in the beaker was
heated to about 80.0oC . During the heating process, the temperature of the water bath and the
volume of the air trapped in the graduated cylinder was recorded once per minute. Upon reaching
80.0oC, the water bath was removed from the heat and was allowed to cool to 50.0oC. The
volume of the air trapped in the graduated cylinder was again recorded once per minute.
The temperature of the water bath and then lowered further to 0oC by adding a small quantities of
ice to the beaker. As the water bath cools, the temperature and volume of the gas were recorded
every 3.0oC.

Results
Volume cm3
7.2
7.4
7.7
8.1
8.6
9.3
10.0
9.9
9.7
9.5
9.3
9.1
8.9
8.7

Temparature 0C
38
43
48
53
58
63
68
68
67
65
64
62
61
60

8.5
8.3
8.1
7.9
7.9

58
56
54
51
50

6.2
6.1
6.2

5
5
6

Discussion
In order to minimize error in this experiment, the measurement of the volume of gas should only
be made if the pressure inside the graduated cylinder and the atmosphere are equal. The
graduated cylinder will be raise to allow the water level inside the cylinder and the water bath to
be equal. The pressure inside the cylinder and outside the cylinder will be equal. Only then can
the volume of the gas inside be measured.

The vapor pressure of a liquid depends upon the molecular structure of the liquid
and upon the temperature. Increasing the temperature increases the average
kinetic energy of the liquid molecules, and hence the fraction of molecules with
sufficient energy to escape from the liquid phase. Thus, the vapor pressure
increases with temperature.