Energy of Phase Changes

Lab Report :Lab #8

William Valerius
Drue Benning, Nick Caldwell, Connor Menghini
T.A: Thushara Samarasinghe

Chem 184 Fall 2012, Section :518

Date: 11/09/12

Signature:

Introduction:
The purpose of this experiment was to determine the energy change of substances as they
underwent the different phase transitions expressed above. This includes the heat of fusion of
water, the heat of vaporization of nitrogen, and the heat of sublimation of CO2.
When heat is applied to a substance the substance undergoes a Phase change. A phase
change is when a solid is converted to a liquid, a liquid to a gas, or even a solid to a gas. A
substance will usually undergo a phase transition when two substances of different temperatures
are put together. If the two substances are within an isolated container the energy change of the
cooler substance can be determined from its mass m, temperature change DT, and heat capacity
or specific heat s(4.184 J/g*C this is the specific heat of water) according to the equation:
q = msDT
the energy involved with a phase change can be expressed as J/g or kJ/mol the latter of which is
the molar heat for the phase transition. The energies involved with phase changes are:
Heat of
Fusion
Vaporization
Sublimation

Symbol
DHfus
DHvap
DHsub

Phase Change
Solid to liquid; melting
Liquid to gas; boiling
Solid to Gas; sublimation

The purpose of this experiment was to determine the energy change of substances as they
underwent the different phase transitions expressed above. This includes the heat of fusion of
water, the heat of vaporization of nitrogen, and the heat of sublimation of CO2.
Experimental:

Experimental processes involved using small nested cups to house the substances. 60 mL
of water was added to one pair of nested cups, and then weighed using a scale. 20mgof ice was
then added to the container. All temperature changes were recorded using the logger pro
software provided in class. This procedure was repeated for each phase change except instead of
adding 20g of ice the next two tests, 40g of nitrogen was used, and then 15g of CO2(dry ice).
All experimental processes were found on the course website within the Energy of Phase
Changes pre-lab. Any further procedural information can be found at the following link:
http://linus.chem.ku.edu/genchemlab/184FA12/Download184_Labs/The%20Energy
%20of%20Phase%20Changes%20Chem%20184%20Fall%202012.pdf

Results:
Part 1:
Quantity
M[H2O](l)
M[H2O](s)
Ti[H2O](s)
Tf[H2O](l)

Trial 1
55.44g
15.05g
52.3*C
28.8*C

Trial 2
54.97g
12.84g
51.5*C
28.01*C

Trial 3
59.34g
12.95g
54.01*C
31.3*C

Average
56.58g
13.02g
52.1*C
29.37*C

t [H2O](l)

-23.5*C

-23.44*C

-22.71*C

-23.23*C

Qgain=-qlost

mice x hfus x mice x sH2O x tice = qgain

hfus/1g * 18g/1mol * 1KJ/1000J

hfus = 5.391 kJ/mol

Accepted = 6.03

(Actual accepted)/-accepted x 100 = % error

It was determined that the percent error during this test was 10.3% error.

Part 2:
Quantity
m[H2O](l)
m[N2](l)
Ti[H2O](l)
tf[H2O](l)
t[H2O](l)

Trial1
56.8g
33.34g
54.5*C
23.6*C
-30.9*C

Trial 2
57.53g
38.24g
53.82*C
18.62*C
-35.2*C

Qlost = mH2O x sH2O x thot water

Trial 3
59.86g
31.94g
54.36*C
30.31*C
-24.05*C

Average
59.06g
34.9g
54.29*C
24.18*C
-30.05*C

qgain = -qlost

hvapN2 = qgain/mN2 x 28g/1molN2 x 1kJ/1000J

hvapN2 = 5.92kJ/mol

accepted = 5.03kJ/mol

(Actual accepted)/-accepted x 100 = % error

it was determined that the test had been performed with 5.2 % error.

Part 3:
Quantity
M[H2O](l)
M[CO2](s)
Ti[H2O](l)

Trial 1
56.05g
9.95g
54.54*C

Trial 2
61.27g
11.3g
62.63*C

Trial 3
54.54g
9.95g
60.65*C

Average
59.10g
10.32g
59.27*C

Tf[H2O](l)
t[H2O](l)

24.29*C
-30.25*C

32.74*C
-29.89*C

Qlost = mH2O x sH2O x thot water

29.94*C
-30.71*C

qgain = -qlost

hvapN2 = qgain/mCO2 x 44g/1molN2 x 1kJ/1000J

hsubCO2= 30.84kJ/mol

accepted = 25.9kJ/mol

(Actual accepted)/-accepted x 100 = % error

It was determined that this test had been performed with 21.9% error.
Part 1:

Part 2

30.66*C
-30.25*C

Part 3

Discussion:
The experimental strategy was to determine the change in energy within the substance by
utilizing the hot water to determine temperature change during the reaction. When the substance
undergoing the phase change was added to the hot water we could determine heat lost during the
phase change and from there, the energy change using the provided equations. During each
reaction the process was endothermic in nature. The substance undergoing the phase change
took in heat and energy in order to transition from one phase to the next. This could be
determined from the heat lost by the hot water during the process.
You would expect that the transition from solid to liquid and the transition from liquid to
gas would have a similar h, but the transition from solid to gas would have a significantly
higher h. During the experiment we found this to be very true. It was determined that the h
of solid H2O to a liquid, liquid N2 to a gas, and solid CO2 to a gas were 5.391kJ/mol, 5.92kJ/mol,

and 30.84kJ/mol respectively. The goal during the experiment was to determine h of the phase
transition in relation to the accepted value. The goals of the experiment were met.
The assumptions made during this experiment were that qgain = -qlost(environment) , and that the
specific heat of water is 4.184J/g*C.
During the experiment the percentage of error ranged from 5.2% all the way to 21.9%.
The likely sources of error could possibly be that heat was lost to the styrofoam cups during the
experiment. If the water was allowed to sit for too long before adding the substance, it is
possible that the water lost some heat, and distorted the answers. More likely sources of error
could be wrong measurements when weighing the substances. This also goes for a possible
inconsistent volume of water. It is even possible that the logger pro made improper readings, this
is more unlikely than other sources of error.
Conclusion:
This experiment was to determine the h values for the fusion of water, the vaporization of
Nitrogen, and the sublimation of CO2. This was doone by adding the aforementioned substance
to a nested cup containing water. The changes in temperature were then determined using a
logger pro. From the information gathered the h values could be obtained. The values were as
follows:

hfus H2O= 5.391 kJ/mol , hvapN2 = 5.92kJ/mol , hsubCO2= 30.84kJ/mol.

Reference:
The course website was the primary source of information used during
experimentation.

http://linus.chem.ku.edu/genchemlab/184FA12/Download184_Labs/Thermochemistr
y%20Chemistry%20184%20Fall%202012.pdf