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Investigating The Heat Of Reaction Essay

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Introduction: The objective of this experiment was to determine the heat of reaction of mixtures consisting of HCl, H2SO4, and CH3CO2H with NaOH and to find out how these reactions were related to one another thermochemically. Measuring heat of reaction and understanding what factors may affect it has been important in the creation of heating and cooling packs, which have been used in medicine to relieve pain and reduce muscle tension. Thermochemistry has been defined as the study of the changes in energy that accompany chemical reactions.1 One of the basic concepts in thermochemistry has been the distinction between the system (the focus of a thermochemical study) and its surroundings which are both part of a universe.1 One of the properties of a system is its internal energy (E), whose change has been expressed in the equation: E=q+w (where E is the change in internal energy, q is the heat transferred to or from the system, and w is the work done on or by the system).2 If the pressure is constant, then the heat (q) has also been defined as enthalpy (H). In most cases, the amount of work done on or by the system has been insignificant meaning the total energy change of a reaction would be equal to the change in enthalpy of reaction ( E=qrxn= Hrxn).2 The heat of reaction ( Hrxn) can be determined by using the equation: q=mC T (where m is the mass of the system, C is the heat capacity or the amount of energy required to raise the temperature of 1.00 g of a substance by

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