Calorimetry

Introduction:
The experiment is done with the purpose of finding and measuring the amount of heat released or
absorbed in the chemical reaction of Muriatic Acid (HCl) and Sodium Hydroxide (NaOH).
The chemicals involved, HCl and NaOH have their own respective properties that are significant
towards the result of the experiment. Even though both HCl and NaOH are corrosive and are quite
dangerous to handle, neither of the two are exothermic by themselves alone. This means that the
temperatures of HCl and NaOH are not necessarily elevated compared to water at room temperature. The
most significant property is the acidity/basicity of the chemicals. The level of acidity/basicity of these
chemicals can be expressed numerically through their pH levels. A pH level between 0- 5.5 for a chemical
indicates that the chemical is acidic, whereas a pH level 8.5-14 indicates that the chemical is basic or
alkaline. pH values between 5.5-8.5 is considered neutral, where water has a pH level of 7. To find the pH
level of a chemical, the following formula is used:
𝑝𝐻 = −log(𝐻 + )
This means that the pH is the negative base 10 log of the hydrogen ion concentration of a solution.
In the experiment, the chemicals have concentrations of 0.5M, 1M and 2M. M, or molarity, is a unit of
concentration that is equal to moles of chemical per liter of solution or
𝑚𝑜𝑙 𝑜𝑓 𝐶ℎ𝑒𝑚𝑖𝑐𝑎𝑙
𝑀=
𝐿𝑖𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑜𝑓 𝑆𝑜𝑙𝑢𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛
This means that a greater value for M indicates an increase in the content of the chemical in comparison to
the whole solution.
As an example of the usage of this formula, one can take the no. of moles of a chemical when the molarity
and the amount of solution is given. 60ml of 0.5M HCl gives 0.03 moles HCl.
𝑚𝑜𝑙 𝑜𝑓 𝐶ℎ𝑒𝑚𝑖𝑐𝑎𝑙 103 𝑚𝑙
0.5𝑀 = ( )
60𝑚𝑙 1𝐿
While 60 ml of 1M HCl gives 0.06 moles of HCl.
𝑚𝑜𝑙 𝑜𝑓 𝐶ℎ𝑒𝑚𝑖𝑐𝑎𝑙 103 𝑚𝑙
1𝑀 = ( )
60𝑚𝑙 1𝐿
The hydrogen ion of concentration is equal to the concentration of HCl as HCl dissociates fully in water,
(HCl -> H+ + Cl- ), it can be observed that there is a 1:1 ratio of Hydrogen ion (H+ ) for every HCL.
This means that for the calculation of pH levels of HCl, 0.5M, 1M and 2M can be substituted directly to H+
in the given formula.
Thus, for HCl, we can get the following pH levels with the given concentrations:
HCl Concentration 0.5M 1M 2M
pH 0.3 0 -0.3
*true range of pH values for water is between -1.7 – 15.7, thus -0.3 is considerable for certain circumstances.
This proves that HCl is indeed an acidic chemical, and highly acidic at the given concentrations.
NaOH dissociates in water as NaOH -> Na+ + OH-, where a ratio of 1:1 of OH is observed for every NaOH.
Thus, the concentration of NaOH can be directly substituted to get the pOH based on this formula:
𝑝𝑂𝐻 = −log(𝑂𝐻)
From pOH, the pH can be calculated through the formula,
𝑝𝐻 = 14 − 𝑝𝑂𝐻
Where 14 is the standard maximum value for pH in water solutions.
By using the two formulas, we can get the pOH values of:

NaOH Concentration 0.5M 1M 2M

pOH 0.3 0 -0.3
pH 13.7 14 14.3
*true range of pH values for water is between -1.7 – 15.7, thus -14.3 is considerable for certain
circumstances.
This proves that NaOH is an alkaline/ basic chemical and is highly basic at the given concentrations.
The basicity and acidity property of these chemicals are significant as it defines the type of reaction the two
undergo upon combining. The reaction of an acid and a base that results to the formation of water and the
respective salt is called neutralization. In neutralizations, the acid and the base react quantitatively with
each other, meaning the amount of the base reactant involved in the reaction is equal to the amount of acid
reactant involved. The reaction of HCl and NaOH can be written as the chemical formula:
𝑁𝑎𝑂𝐻 + 𝐻𝐶𝑙 → 𝑁𝑎𝐶𝑙 + 𝐻2𝑂
It is observed that in the equation, the reaction of NaOH and HCl produces NaCl, a type of salt, and H2O,
which is water. Thus, the reaction of NaOH and HCl is a neutralization reaction.
Neutralization is one type of many reactions that produce heat. Heat is produced during a neutralization
reaction as bonds are created during the process. When bonds are created between atoms, heat is released
to the surroundings. This released heat is the heat that is being measured in the experiment.
The measuring of the heat released in a neutralization process requires that the heat produced is contained
effectively. If a considerable amount of heat produced were to be allowed to escape, the reading of the
temperature change will not anymore be accurate. For this reason, the experiment requires insulators to
contain the heat to an area where it can be measured. The insulator used in the experiment are Styrofoam
cups, which serve as makeshift calorimeter. Insulators are any type of material that prevents heat from
flowing through it. Styrofoam is an insulator as it is composed 98% of air, and air is known to be an
inefficient conductor of heat. This means that using the Styrofoam cups, the heat can be contained inside
and the change in temperature can be taken accurately.
The amount of heat released q in Joules can be measured through the formula:
𝑞 = 𝑚𝐶∆𝑇
where q is the amount of heat produced in Joules, m is the mass of the object, C is the heat capacity of the
substance involved, and ∆𝑇 is the change in temperature.
The sum of the mass of the reactants is equal to the sum of the mass of the products for the reaction of
NaOH and HCl, as the reaction only produces salt and water and no gas products that escapes the system.
Thus, the sum of the masses before and after reaction is the same.
The value of the heat capacity to be used in the calculations for the experiment is that of water or H2O, at
4.184 J/g-°C. The value for H2O is used as water constitutes most of the reactants. It should be noted that
the solvent for the aqueous HCl and NaOH is water, and at 1M HCl for example, water contributes 964.55
grams out of 1000 grams of HCl aqueous solution. In this case, the mass of Na and Cl is almost negligible
in taking the mass of each of the components. Water is also one of the products formed in the reaction,
where H+ and OH- ions of HCl and NaOH respectively form H2O molecules, with the formation of these
bonds as one of the sources of the heat energy being released.
Since the increase of molarity means the increase of the amount of diluted chemicals HCl and NaOH with
respect to their over-all solutions, it is expected that greater concentrations liberate greater amounts of heat
as more NaOH and HCl are involved in the reaction and thus more bonds are formed, which means more
heat energy is released. In theory, the reaction of 1M of HCl and 1M of NaOH will release greater amount
of heat compared to 0.5M of both for example.