Laboratory of Physical Chemistry

Name and surname Tomasz Waś

Faculty WM/IFE
Field of study Mechanical engineering
Group ME2

LABORATORY REPORT
EXPERIMENT No. IC
Heat of Neutralization

Date of experiment: 15.12.2021

Date of report submission: 29.12.2021
Date of resubmission after correction: ……………….

I declare that I have become familiar with and understood the regulations and instructions in
the field of Occupational Health and Safety and Fire Protection in the Physical Chemistry
Laboratory, and I know the Safety Data Sheets of chemicals used in the experiment. I accept
that any action in contravention of these rules and regulations will lead to expelling me from
the laboratory.

Date ………………. Signature ……………………………………

Lodz University of Technology, Faculty of Chemistry, Institute of Applied Radiation Chemistry

 Laboratory of Physical Chemistry

Objective
The main objective of this laboratory exercise is to get acquitted with
phenomena of heat of exothermic reactions (dissolution of acids in water,
neutralization of acids with bases). Moreover, to learn the principles of
calorimetric measurements and to analyze the transfers of heat during the
reactions.

Introduction
Most of chemical reactions are related to energy. Very often the change or
transfer of energy of given chemical reaction is displayed in the form of heat.
When the process requires heat to proceed, it is said to be endothermic. For
endothermic process, heat q> 0. If the process produces heat, it is said to be
exothermic. For exothermic process, heat q < 0.
In this laboratory exercise we will investigate two types of exothermic
reactions; heat of neutralization of strong acid and base and heat of dissolution
of strong acid.
The first one is produced due to reaction of hydrogen cations and
hydroxyl anions, that produces water. The heat of this reaction does not depend
on the type of acid and is equal -56,61kJ per mole of water formed.

H2SO4 + 2NaOH = Na2SO4 + 2H2O

2H+ +2OH- = 2H2O

H+ +OH- = H2O
The second one is produced due to dissolution of the acid. Heat is released when
high energy bonds are broken and form newer lower energy bonds. In our case:

H2SO4 = H++ HSO4-

To determine the heat flow of the reaction we use process known as calorimetry.
To do that we need an isolated vessel called a calorimeter and we need to
carefully observe the change of temperature inside of it. Using the following
equation(Q- heat, C – specific heat of a substance, ∆ T - change of temperature)

Q = mC ∆ T

and knowing that the heat created in the chemical reactions is equal to the heat
of the heated water, we can determine the heat created in chemical reaction.
Taking into account the real calorimeter setup consisting of vessel, water, stirrer,
thermometer, the m*C part can be replaced by K, known as a heat capacity of
calorimeter.
Q = K ∆T
Lodz University of Technology, Faculty of Chemistry, Institute of Applied Radiation Chemistry
 Laboratory of Physical Chemistry

Materials and Methods

Materials used
- Ampule
- Scale
- calorimeter with stirrer and digital
thermometer
- flask

Reagents used
- sulfuric acid
- Sodium hydroxide
- plain water

Description of the experiment Experiments equipment

Firstly we have to fill a glass ampule with sulfuric acid and measure the mass of
it(In our case we had 4,92g of sulfuric acid). Knowing the mass, we calculate
the appropriate volume to neutralize the acid of sodium hydroxide (we also
increase it by 30%, in our case it was 21,5ml). Then we pour the calculated
NaOH volume into the flask and add enough water to have exactly 500ml of
solution. After that we pour the solution into the calorimeter and measure
temperature of the solution every 30s, 15 times. Then, we gently break the flask
with H2SO4 and measure temperature every 5 seconds, until the temperature
stops rising. Finally we measure the new substance temperature every 30
seconds 10 times.

Lodz University of Technology, Faculty of Chemistry, Institute of Applied Radiation Chemistry

 Laboratory of Physical Chemistry

Results and Discussion

1. Make a plot of temperature versus time and read out the temperature
change (increase).

Plot of temperature of neutralization reaction

37
36
35
Temperature [C˚]

end of tempera-
34 ture increase
33
32
the moment of
31 breaking the vial
with H2SO4
30
0 60 120 180 240 300 360 420 455 465 475 485 495 505 515 550 610 670 730 790

Time [s]

We can clearly see 3 phases on the graph. The first, slow decrease of
temperature with only NaOH and water, second a rapid increase in temperature
due to dissolution of the acid and its neutralization. And after that we can again
see slow decrease of temperature.

2. Calculate the heat flow observed on dissolving sulfuric acid in the water
solution of sodium base. Heat created by adding the sulfuric acid is equal
to the heat of the surroundings, so .

-QH2SO4 = Qcalorimeter

QH2SO4 = -K*∆ T

QH2SO4 = -2500J/K*4.03K = -10075J

Lodz University of Technology, Faculty of Chemistry, Institute of Applied Radiation Chemistry

 Laboratory of Physical Chemistry

3. Find the heat of sulfuric acid solution in water in a chemical handbook.

Calculate the observed heat of neutralization taking the heat capacity of
the calorimetric setup a 2.5kJ/deg. Hint: heat values shown in tables refer
to one mole of sulfuric acid, while you have used much lower amount.

To determine the heat of neutralization we have to analyze the heat flows

present in the calorimeter:
Qcalorimeter = -Qdissociation -Qneutralization

Qneutralization = -Qcalorimeter - Qdissociation

Heat of the calorimeter is the same as in the second calculation, heat of

dissociation is a found in internet value times number of moles.

Qneutralization = -K*∆ T - nmoles*(- 71.76 kJ/mol)

Qneutralization =-2500J/K*4.03K + 0.05mol* 71760 J/mol

Qneutralization = -6 487J

4. Calculate the heat of neutralization for one mole of water formed. Hint:
From one mole of fully neutralized sulfuric acid two moles of water are
formed.

We know that 1mole of neutralized H 2SO4 creates 2 moles of water, so one mole
of water formed needs 0.5 a mole of H 2SO4. Using simple proportion we can see
that:
0,05mol - -6 487J
−6487 J∗0.5 mol
0.5mol – xJ X= 0 , 05 mol
= -64870J

As we can see the obtained experimental value differs significantly (8000J

difference) from the theoretical value of -56610J per mole of created water. The
difference may be caused by wrong amount of poured reagents (the scale on the
used flask was very dim and hard to see, so the amount of water and NaOH may
be different in real life than in the calculations) or some of the used data (for
example heat capacity of calorimeter) may be not precise enough.

Lodz University of Technology, Faculty of Chemistry, Institute of Applied Radiation Chemistry

 Laboratory of Physical Chemistry

References:

http://dpuadweb.depauw.edu/harvey_web/Chem260/Chem260pdfs/
WorksheetKeys/diluteStrongAcid_key.pdf

https://www.quora.com/Why-is-heat-released-when-an-acid-reacts-with-water

https://chem.libretexts.org/Bookshelves/Introductory_Chemistry/Book
%3A_Introductory_Chemistry_(CK-12)/17%3A_Thermochemistry/
17.13%3A_Heat_of_Solution

https://www.physicsforums.com/threads/enthalpy-of-neutralisation-strong-acid-
strong-base.221331/

Lodz University of Technology, Faculty of Chemistry, Institute of Applied Radiation Chemistry