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Essay about Resonance Energy of Naphthalene by Bomb Calorimetry

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Experiment 3: Resonance Energy of Naphthalene by Bomb Calorimetry

Cameron Fowler
CHEM 457: Lab Section 4
Submitted: 11/4/10
Lab Group #3:
Michael Hyle
Neil Baranik
Tim Riley
Abstract:
The enthalpy of combustion of naphthalene was experimentally determined to be -5030.44 ± 78.98 kJ/mol which was a 2.5% error from the literature value of -5160 ± 20 kJ/mol.2 The theoretical enthalpy of combustion of solid naphthalene was calculated to be -6862.68 kJ/mol using bond energies for the gaseous molecules, the heat of vaporization of liquid water and the literature value of the heat of sublimation of naphthalene, which was 72 ± 4 kJ/mol.2 The absolute value of the difference between the theoretical heat of combustion and the literature …show more content…

It was desired to compare a theoretical value of enthalpy of combustion to a literature value. To do this, the theoretical value was calculated using a literature value for the heat of sublimation of naphthalene, the heat of vaporization of water and average bond energies, given in Table 1 of the lab packet.1 Equations (1) and (5) were used to calculate the theoretical enthalpy of combustion of gaseous naphthalene, where n was the number of moles, m was the number of bonds, and ΔH was the average bond energy:
∆Hcombustion,naphs=ni+mi*∆Hireactants-ni+mi*∆Hiproducts (5)
The theoretical value of the combustion of solid naphthalene was calculated by substituting their given values in the literature into equation (5) in place of their corresponding terms.

Experimental: A more detailed explanation of procedures can be found in the lab packet.1 To summarize, samples of benzoic acid and naphthalene were combusted using the Parr 1341 Calorimeter with a Parr oxygen bomb. A massed benzoic acid pellet was placed onto the center of the combustion pan and 10 cm of nickel alloy fuse wire was massed and then threaded through both electrodes on the head of the bomb so that it lay firmly against the acid pellet. 1mL of distilled water was then placed in the bottom of the bomb in order to ensure that all the water produced by the

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