text
stringlengths
200
319k
expressed as a percentage mass-volume percent ratio of solute mass to solution volume, expressed as a percentage molar mass mass in grams of 1 mole of a substance molarity (M) unit of concentration, defined as the number of moles of solute dissolved in 1 liter of solution mole amount of substance containing the same number of atoms, molecules, ions, or other entities as the number of atoms in exactly 12 grams of 12C parts per billion (ppb) ratio of solute-to-solution mass multiplied by 109 parts per million (ppm) ratio of solute-to-solution mass multiplied by 106 percent composition percentage by mass of the various elements in a compound solute solution component present in a concentration less than that of the solvent solvent solution component present in a concentration that is higher relative to other components volume percentage ratio of solute-to-solution volume expressed as a percentage
The formula mass of a substance is the sum of the average atomic masses of each atom represented in the chemical formula and is expressed in atomic mass units. The formula mass of a covalent compound is also called the molecular mass. A convenient amount unit for expressing very large numbers of atoms or molecules is the mole. Experimental measurements have determined the number of entities composing 1 mole of substance to be 6.022 1023, a quantity called Avogadro’s number. The mass in grams of 1 mole of substance is its molar mass. Due to the use of the same reference substance in defining the atomic mass unit and the mole, the formula mass (amu) and molar mass (g/mol) for any substance are numerically equivalent (for example, one H2O molecule weighs approximately18 amu and 1 mole of H2O molecules weighs approximately 18 g). The chemical identity of a substance is defined by the types and relative numbers of atoms composing its fundamental entities (molecules in the case of covalent compounds, ions in the case of ionic compounds). A compound’s percent composition provides the mass percentage of each element in the compound, and it is often experimentally determined and used to derive the compound’s empirical formula. The empirical formula mass of a covalent compound may be compared to the compound’s molecular or molar mass to derive a molecular formula.
in which other components, called solutes, are dissolved. An aqueous solution is one for which the solvent is water. The concentration of a solution is a measure of the relative amount of solute in a given amount of solution. Concentrations may be measured using various units, with one very useful unit being molarity, defined as the number of moles of solute per liter of solution. The solute concentration of a solution may be decreased by adding solvent, a process referred to as dilution. The dilution equation is a simple relation between concentrations and volumes of a solution before and after dilution. In addition to molarity, a number of other solution concentration units are used in various applications. Percentage concentrations based on the solution components’ masses, volumes, or both are useful for expressing relatively high concentrations, whereas lower concentrations are conveniently expressed using ppm or ppb units. These units are popular in environmental, medical, and other fields where mole-based units such as molarity are not as commonly used.
Determine the mass of each of the following: 2.345 mol LiCl 0.0872 mol acetylene, C2H2 3.3 10−2 mol Na2 CO3 1.23 103 mol fructose, C6 H12 O6 0.5758 mol FeSO4(H2O)7 The approximate minimum daily dietary requirement of the amino acid leucine, C6H13NO2, is 1.1 g. What is this requirement in moles? Determine the mass in grams of each of the following: 0.600 mol of oxygen atoms 0.600 mol of oxygen molecules, O2 0.600 mol of ozone molecules, O3 A 55-kg woman has 7.5 10−3 mol of hemoglobin (molar mass = 64,456 g/mol) in her blood. How many hemoglobin molecules is this? What is this quantity in grams? Determine the number of atoms and the mass of zirconium, silicon, and oxygen found in 0.3384 mol of zircon, ZrSiO4, a semiprecious stone. Determine which of the following contains the greatest mass of hydrogen: 1 mol of CH4, 0.6 mol of C6H6, or 0.4 mol of C3H8. Determine which of the following contains the greatest mass of aluminum: 122 g of AlPO4, 266 g of Al2Cl6, or 225 g of Al2S3. Diamond is one form of elemental carbon. An engagement ring contains a diamond weighing 1.25 carats (1 carat = 200 mg). How many atoms are present in the diamond? The Cullinan diamond was the largest natural diamond ever found (January 25, 1905). It weighed 3104 carats (1 carat = 200 mg). How many carbon atoms were present in the stone? One 55-gram serving of a particular cereal supplies 270 mg of sodium, 11% of the recommended daily allowance. How many moles and atoms of sodium are in the recommended daily allowance? A certain nut crunch cereal contains 11.0 grams of sugar (sucrose, C12H22O11) per serving size of 60.0 grams. How many servings of this cereal must be eaten to consume 0.0278 moles of sugar? A tube of toothpaste contains 0.76 g of sodium monofluorophosphate (Na2PO3F) in 100 mL. What mass of fluorine atoms in mg was present? How many fluorine atoms were present? Which of the following represents the least number of molecules? 20.0 g of H2O (18.02 g/mol) 77.0 g of CH4 (16.06 g/mol) 68.0 g of C3H6 (42.08 g/mol) 100.0 g of N2O (44.02 g/mol) 84.0 g of HF (20.01 g/mol) What information is needed to determine the molecular formula of a compound from the empirical formula? Calculate the following to four significant figures: the percent composition of ammonia, NH3 the percent composition of photographic fixer solution (“hypo”), Na2S2O3 the percent of calcium ion in Ca3(PO4)2 Determine the following to four significant figures: the percent composition of hydrazoic acid, HN3 the percent composition of TNT, C6H2(CH3)(NO2)3 the percent of SO 2– in Al (SO ) 4 2 4 3 Determine the percent ammonia, NH3, in Co(NH3)6Cl3, to three significant figures. Determine the percent water in CuSO4∙5H2O to three significant figures. Determine the empirical formulas for compounds with the following percent compositions: 15.8% carbon and 84.2% sulfur 40.0% carbon, 6.7% hydrogen, and 53.3% oxygen Determine the empirical formulas for compounds with the following percent compositions: 43.6% phosphorus and 56.4% oxygen 28.7% K, 1.5% H, 22.8% P, and 47.0% O A compound of carbon and hydrogen contains 92.3% C and has a molar mass of 78.1 g/mol. What is its molecular formula? Dichloroethane, a compound that is often used for dry cleaning, contains carbon, hydrogen, and chlorine. It has a molar mass of 99 g/mol. Analysis of a sample shows that it contains 24.3% carbon and 4.1% hydrogen. What is its molecular formula? Determine the empirical and molecular formula for chrysotile asbestos. Chrysotile has the following percent composition: 28.03% Mg, 21.60% Si, 1.16% H, and 49.21% O. The molar mass for chrysotile is 520.8 g/mol. Polymers are large molecules composed of simple units repeated many times. Thus, they often have relatively simple empirical formulas. Calculate the empirical formulas of the following polymers: Lucite (Plexiglas); 59.9% C, 8.06% H, 32.0% O Saran; 24.8% C, 2.0% H, 73.1% Cl polyethylene; 86% C, 14% H polystyrene; 92.3% C, 7.7% H Orlon; 67.9% C, 5.70% H, 26.4% N A major textile dye manufacturer developed a new yellow dye. The dye has a percent composition of 75.95% C, 17.72% N, and 6.33% H by mass with a molar mass of about 240 g/mol. Determine the molecular formula of the dye. Explain what changes and what stays the same when 1.00 L of a solution of NaCl is diluted to 1.80 L. What information is needed to calculate the molarity of a sulfuric acid solution? A 200-mL sample and a 400-mL sample of a solution of salt have the same molarity. In what ways are the two samples identical? In what ways are these two samples different? Determine the molarity for each of the following solutions: 0.444 mol of CoCl2 in 0.654 L of solution 98.0 g of phosphoric acid, H3PO4, in 1.00 L of solution 0.2074 g of calcium hydroxide, Ca(OH)2, in 40.00 mL of solution 10.5 kg of Na2SO4·10H2O in 18.60 L of solution 7.0 10−3 mol of I2 in 100.0 mL of solution 1.8 104 mg of HCl in 0.075 L of solution Determine the molarity of each of the following solutions: 1.457 mol KCl in 1.500 L of solution 0.515 g of H2SO4 in 1.00 L of solution 20.54 g of Al(NO3)3 in 1575 mL of solution 2.76 kg of CuSO4·5H2O in 1.45 L of solution 0.005653 mol of Br2 in 10.00 mL of solution 0.000889 g of glycine, C2H5NO2, in 1.05 mL of solution Consider this question: What is the mass of the solute in 0.500 L of 0.30 M glucose, C6H12O6, used for intravenous injection? Outline the steps necessary to answer the question. Answer the question. Consider this question: What is the mass of solute in 200.0 L of a 1.556-M solution of KBr? Outline the steps necessary to answer the question. Answer the question. Calculate the number of moles and the mass of the solute in each of the following solutions: 2.00 L of 18.5 M H2SO4, concentrated sulfuric acid 100.0 mL of 3.8 10−6 M NaCN, the minimum lethal concentration of sodium cyanide in blood serum 5.50 L of 13.3 M H2CO, the formaldehyde used to “fix” tissue samples 325 mL of 1.8 10−6 M FeSO4, the minimum concentration of iron sulfate detectable by taste in drinking water Calculate the number of moles and the mass of the solute in each of the following solutions: 325 mL of 8.23 10−5 M KI, a source of iodine in the diet 75.0 mL of 2.2 10−5 M H2SO4, a sample of acid rain 0.2500 L of 0.1135 M K2CrO4, an analytical reagent used in iron assays 10.5 L of 3.716 M (NH4)2SO4, a liquid fertilizer Consider this question: What is the molarity of KMnO4 in a solution of 0.0908 g of KMnO4 in 0.500 L of solution? Outline the steps necessary to answer the question. Answer the question. Consider this question: What is the molarity of HCl if 35.23 mL of a solution of HCl contain 0.3366 g of HCl? Outline the steps necessary to answer the question. Answer the question. Calculate the molarity of each of the following solutions: 0.195 g of cholesterol, C27H46O, in 0.100 L of serum, the average concentration of cholesterol in human serum 4.25 g of NH3 in 0.500 L of solution, the concentration of NH3 in household ammonia 1.49 kg of isopropyl alcohol, C3H7OH, in 2.50 L of solution, the concentration of isopropyl alcohol in rubbing alcohol 0.029 g of I2 in 0.100 L of solution, the solubility of I2 in water at 20 °C Calculate the molarity of each of the following solutions: 293 g HCl in 666 mL of solution, a concentrated HCl solution 2.026 g FeCl3 in 0.1250 L of a solution used as an unknown in general chemistry laboratories 0.001 mg Cd2+ in 0.100 L, the maximum permissible concentration of cadmium in drinking water 0.0079 g C7H5SNO3 in one ounce (29.6 mL), the concentration of saccharin in a diet soft drink. There is about 1.0 g of calcium, as Ca2+, in 1.0 L of milk. What is the molarity of Ca2+ in milk? What volume of a 1.00-M Fe(NO3)3 solution can be diluted to prepare 1.00 L of a solution with a concentration of 0.250 M? If 0.1718 L of a 0.3556-M C3H7OH solution is diluted to a concentration of 0.1222 M, what is the volume of the resulting solution? If 4.12 L of a 0.850 M-H3PO4 solution is be diluted to a volume of 10.00 L, what is the concentration of the resulting solution? What volume of a 0.33-M C12H22O11 solution can be diluted to prepare 25 mL of a solution with a concentration of 0.025 M? What is the concentration of the NaCl solution that results when 0.150 L of a 0.556-M solution is allowed to evaporate until the volume is reduced to 0.105 L? What is the molarity of the diluted solution when each of the following solutions is diluted to the given final volume? 1.00 L of a 0.250-M solution of Fe(NO3)3 is diluted to a final volume of 2.00 L 0.5000 L of a 0.1222-M solution of C3H7OH is diluted to a final volume of 1.250 L 2.35 L of a 0.350-M solution of H3PO4 is diluted to a final volume of 4.00 L 22.50 mL of a 0.025-M solution of C12H22O11 is diluted to 100.0 mL What is the final concentration of the solution produced when 225.5 mL of a 0.09988-M solution of Na2CO3 is allowed to evaporate until the solution volume is reduced to 45.00 mL? A 2.00-L bottle of a solution of concentrated HCl was purchased for the general chemistry laboratory. The solution contained 868.8 g of HCl. What is the molarity of the solution? An experiment in a general chemistry laboratory calls for a 2.00-M solution of HCl. How many mL of 11.9 M HCl would be required to make 250 mL of 2.00 M HCl? What volume of a 0.20-M K2SO4 solution contains 57 g of K2SO4? The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) places limits on the quantities of toxic substances that may be discharged into the sewer system. Limits have been established for a variety of substances, including hexavalent chromium, which is limited to 0.50 mg/L. If an industry is discharging hexavalent chromium as potassium dichromate (K2Cr2O7), what is the maximum permissible molarity of that substance? Consider this question: What mass of a concentrated solution of nitric acid (68.0% HNO3 by mass) is needed to prepare 400.0 g of a 10.0% solution of HNO3 by mass? Outline the steps necessary to answer the question. Answer the question. What mass of a 4.00% NaOH solution by mass contains 15.0 g of NaOH? What mass of solid NaOH (97.0% NaOH by mass) is required to prepare 1.00 L of a 10.0% solution of NaOH by mass? The density of the 10.0% solution is 1.109 g/mL. What mass of HCl is contained in 45.0 mL of an aqueous HCl solution that has a density of 1.19 g cm–3 and contains 37.21% HCl by mass? The hardness of water (hardness count) is usually expressed in parts per million (by mass) of CaCO3, which is equivalent to milligrams of CaCO3 per liter of water. What is the molar concentration of Ca2+ ions in a water sample with a hardness count of 175 mg CaCO3/L? The level of mercury in a stream was suspected to be above the minimum considered safe (1 part per billion by weight). An analysis indicated that the concentration was 0.68 parts per billion. Assume a density of 1.0 g/mL and calculate the molarity of mercury in the stream. In Canada and the United Kingdom, devices that measure blood glucose levels provide a reading in millimoles per liter. If a measurement of 5.3 mM is observed, what is the concentration of glucose (C6H12O6) in mg/dL? A throat spray is 1.40% by mass phenol, C6H5OH, in water. If the solution has a density of 0.9956 g/mL, calculate the molarity of the solution. Copper(I) iodide (CuI) is often added to table salt as a dietary source of iodine. How many moles of CuI are contained in 1.00 lb (454 g) of table salt containing 0.0100% CuI by mass? A cough syrup contains 5.0% ethyl alcohol, C2H5OH, by mass. If the density of the solution is 0.9928 g/mL, determine the molarity of the alcohol in the cough syrup. D5W is a solution used as an intravenous fluid. It is a 5.0% by mass solution of dextrose (C6H12O6) in water. If the density of D5W is 1.029 g/mL, calculate the molarity of dextrose in the solution. Find the molarity of a 40.0% by mass aqueous solution of sulfuric acid, H2SO4, for which the density is 1.3057 g/mL.
INTRODUCTION Solid-fuel rockets are a central feature in the world’s space exploration programs, including the new Space Launch System being developed by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to replace the retired Space Shuttle fleet (). The engines of these rockets rely on carefully prepared solid mixtures of chemicals combined in precisely measured amounts. Igniting the mixture initiates a vigorous chemical reaction that rapidly generates large amounts of gaseous products. These gases are ejected from the rocket engine through its nozzle, providing the thrust needed to propel heavy payloads into space. Both the nature of this chemical reaction and the relationships between the amounts of the substances being consumed and produced by the reaction are critically important considerations that determine the success of the technology. This chapter will describe how to symbolize chemical reactions using chemical equations, how to classify some common chemical reactions by identifying patterns of reactivity, and how to determine the quantitative relations between the amounts of substances involved in chemical reactions—that is, the reaction stoichiometry. Writing and Balancing Chemical Equations LEARNING OBJECTIVES By the end of this section, you will be able to: Derive chemical equations from narrative descriptions of chemical reactions. Write and balance chemical equations in molecular, total ionic, and net ionic formats. An earlier chapter of this text introduced the use of element symbols to represent individual atoms. When atoms gain or lose electrons to yield ions, or combine with other atoms to form molecules, their symbols are modified or combined to generate chemical formulas that appropriately represent these species. Extending this symbolism to represent both the identities and the relative quantities of substances undergoing a chemical (or physical) change involves writing and balancing a chemical equation. Consider as an example the reaction between one methane molecule (CH4) and two diatomic oxygen molecules (O2) to produce one carbon dioxide molecule (CO2) and two water molecules (H2O). The chemical equation representing this process is provided in the upper half of , with space-filling molecular models shown in the lower half of the figure. FIGURE 4.2 The reaction between methane and oxygen to yield carbon dioxide and water (shown at bottom) may be represented by a chemical equation using formulas (top). This example illustrates the fundamental aspects of any chemical equation: The substances undergoing reaction are called reactants, and their formulas are placed on the left side of the equation. The substances generated by the reaction are called products, and their formulas are placed on the right side of the equation. Plus signs (+) separate individual reactant and product formulas, and an arrow separates the reactant and product (left and right) sides of the equation. The relative numbers of reactant and product species are represented by coefficients (numbers placed immediately to the left of each formula). A coefficient of 1 is typically omitted. It is common practice to use the smallest possible whole-number coefficients in a chemical equation, as is done in this example. Realize, however, that these coefficients represent the relative numbers of reactants and products, and, therefore, they may be correctly interpreted as ratios. Methane and oxygen react to yield carbon dioxide and water in a 1:2:1:2 ratio. This ratio is satisfied if the numbers of these molecules are, respectively, 1-2-1-2, or 2-4-2-4, or 3-6-3-6, and so on (). Likewise, these coefficients may be interpreted with regard to any amount (number) unit, and so this equation may be correctly read in many ways, including: One methane molecule and two oxygen molecules react to yield one carbon dioxide molecule and two water molecules. One dozen methane molecules and two dozen oxygen molecules react to yield one dozen carbon dioxide molecules and two dozen water molecules. One mole of methane molecules and 2 moles of oxygen molecules react to yield 1 mole of carbon dioxide
FIGURE 4.3 Regardless of the absolute numbers of molecules involved, the ratios between numbers of molecules of each species that react (the reactants) and molecules of each species that form (the products) are the same and are given by the chemical reaction equation. Balancing Equations The chemical equation described in section 4.1 is balanced, meaning that equal numbers of atoms for each element involved in the reaction are represented on the reactant and product sides. This is a requirement the equation must satisfy to be consistent with the law of conservation of matter. It may be confirmed by simply summing the numbers of atoms on either side of the arrow and comparing these sums to ensure they are equal. Note that the number of atoms for a given element is calculated by multiplying the coefficient of any formula containing that element by the element’s subscript in the formula. If an element appears in more than one formula on a given side of the equation, the number of atoms represented in each must be computed and then added together. For example, both product species in the example reaction, CO2 and H2O, contain the element oxygen, and so the number of oxygen atoms on the product side of the equation is
A balanced chemical equation often may be derived from a qualitative description of some chemical reaction by a fairly simple approach known as balancing by inspection. Consider as an example the decomposition of water to yield molecular hydrogen and oxygen. This process is represented qualitatively by an unbalanced chemical equation:
The numbers of H atoms on the reactant and product sides of the equation are equal, but the numbers of O atoms are not. To achieve balance, the coefficients of the equation may be changed as needed. Keep in mind, of course, that the formula subscripts define, in part, the identity of the substance, and so these cannot be changed without altering the qualitative meaning of the equation. For example, changing the reactant formula from H2O to H2O2 would yield balance in the number of atoms, but doing so also changes the reactant’s identity (it’s now hydrogen peroxide and not water). The O atom balance may be achieved by changing the coefficient for H2O to 2.
Though nitrogen is balanced, changes in coefficients are needed to balance the number of oxygen atoms. To balance the number of oxygen atoms, a reasonable first attempt would be to change the coefficients for the O2 and N2O5 to integers that will yield 10 O atoms (the least common multiple for the O atom subscripts in these two formulas).
The numbers of N and O atoms on either side of the equation are now equal, and so the equation is balanced. Check Your Learning Write a balanced equation for the decomposition of ammonium nitrate to form molecular nitrogen, molecular oxygen, and water. (Hint: Balance oxygen last, since it is present in more than one molecule on the right side of the equation.) Answer: It is sometimes convenient to use fractions instead of integers as intermediate coefficients in the process of balancing a chemical equation. When balance is achieved, all the equation’s coefficients may then be multiplied by a whole number to convert the fractional coefficients to integers without upsetting the atom balance. For example, consider the reaction of ethane (C2H6) with oxygen to yield H2O and CO2, represented by the unbalanced equation:
This results in seven O atoms on the product side of the equation, an odd number—no integer coefficient can be used with the O2 reactant to yield an odd number, so a fractional coefficient, is used instead to yield a
Finally with regard to balanced equations, recall that convention dictates use of the smallest whole-number coefficients. Although the equation for the reaction between molecular nitrogen and molecular hydrogen to produce ammonia is, indeed, balanced, the coefficients are not the smallest possible integers representing the relative numbers of reactant and product molecules. Dividing each coefficient by the greatest common factor, 3, gives the preferred equation:
Additional Information in Chemical Equations The physical states of reactants and products in chemical equations very often are indicated with a parenthetical abbreviation following the formulas. Common abbreviations include s for solids, l for liquids, g for gases, and aq for substances dissolved in water (aqueous solutions, as introduced in the preceding chapter). These notations are illustrated in the example equation here: This equation represents the reaction that takes place when sodium metal is placed in water. The solid sodium reacts with liquid water to produce molecular hydrogen gas and the ionic compound sodium hydroxide (a solid in pure form, but readily dissolved in water). Special conditions necessary for a reaction are sometimes designated by writing a word or symbol above or below the equation’s arrow. For example, a reaction carried out by heating may be indicated by the uppercase Greek letter delta (Δ) over the arrow. Other examples of these special conditions will be encountered in more depth in later chapters. Equations for Ionic Reactions Given the abundance of water on earth, it stands to reason that a great many chemical reactions take place in aqueous media. When ions are involved in these reactions, the chemical equations may be written with various levels of detail appropriate to their intended use. To illustrate this, consider a reaction between ionic compounds taking place in an aqueous solution. When aqueous solutions of CaCl2 and AgNO3 are mixed, a reaction takes place producing aqueous Ca(NO3)2 and solid AgCl: This balanced equation, derived in the usual fashion, is called a molecular equation because it doesn’t explicitly represent the ionic species that are present in solution. When ionic compounds dissolve in water, they may dissociate into their constituent ions, which are subsequently dispersed homogenously throughout the resulting solution (a thorough discussion of this important process is provided in the chapter on solutions). Ionic compounds dissolved in water are, therefore, more realistically represented as dissociated ions, in this case: Unlike these three ionic compounds, AgCl does not dissolve in water to a significant extent, as signified by its physical state notation, s. Explicitly representing all dissolved ions results in a complete ionic equation. In this particular case, the formulas for the dissolved ionic compounds are replaced by formulas for their dissociated ions: Examining this equation shows that two chemical species are present in identical form on both sides of the arrow, Ca2+(aq) and These spectator ions—ions whose presence is required to maintain charge neutrality—are neither chemically nor physically changed by the process, and so they may be eliminated from the equation to yield a more succinct representation called a net ionic equation:
This net ionic equation indicates that solid silver chloride may be produced from dissolved chloride and silver(I) ions, regardless of the source of these ions. These molecular and complete ionic equations provide additional information, namely, the ionic compounds used as sources of Cl− and Ag+. Ionic and Molecular Equations When carbon dioxide is dissolved in an aqueous solution of sodium hydroxide, the mixture reacts to yield aqueous sodium carbonate and liquid water. Write balanced molecular, complete ionic, and net ionic equations for this process. Solution Begin by identifying formulas for the reactants and products and arranging them properly in chemical equation form:
Check Your Learning Diatomic chlorine and sodium hydroxide (lye) are commodity chemicals produced in large quantities, along with diatomic hydrogen, via the electrolysis of brine, according to the following unbalanced equation:
Classifying Chemical Reactions LEARNING OBJECTIVES By the end of this section, you will be able to: Define three common types of chemical reactions (precipitation, acid-base, and oxidation-reduction) Classify chemical reactions as one of these three types given appropriate descriptions or chemical equations Identify common acids and bases Predict the solubility of common inorganic compounds by using solubility rules Compute the oxidation states for elements in compounds Humans interact with one another in various and complex ways, and we classify these interactions according to common patterns of behavior. When two humans exchange information, we say they are communicating. When they exchange blows with their fists or feet, we say they are fighting. Faced with a wide range of varied interactions between chemical substances, scientists have likewise found it convenient (or even necessary) to classify chemical interactions by identifying common patterns of reactivity. This module will provide an introduction to three of the most prevalent types of chemical reactions: precipitation, acid-base, and oxidation-reduction. Precipitation Reactions and Solubility Rules A precipitation reaction is one in which dissolved substances react to form one (or more) solid products. Many reactions of this type involve the exchange of ions between ionic compounds in aqueous solution and are sometimes referred to as double displacement, double replacement, or metathesis reactions. These reactions are common in nature and are responsible for the formation of coral reefs in ocean waters and kidney stones in animals. They are used widely in industry for production of a number of commodity and specialty chemicals. Precipitation reactions also play a central role in many chemical analysis techniques, including spot tests used to identify metal ions and gravimetric methods for determining the composition of matter (see the last module of this chapter). The extent to which a substance may be dissolved in water, or any solvent, is quantitatively expressed as its solubility, defined as the maximum concentration of a substance that can be achieved under specified conditions. Substances with relatively large solubilities are said to be soluble. A substance will precipitate when solution conditions are such that its concentration exceeds its solubility. Substances with relatively low solubilities are said to be insoluble, and these are the substances that readily precipitate from solution. More information on these important concepts is provided in a later chapter on solutions. For purposes of predicting the identities of solids formed by precipitation reactions, one may simply refer to patterns of solubility that
This observation is consistent with the solubility guidelines: The only insoluble compound among all those involved is lead iodide, one of the exceptions to the general solubility of iodide salts. The net ionic equation representing this reaction is: Lead iodide is a bright yellow solid that was formerly used as an artist’s pigment known as iodine yellow (). The properties of pure PbI2 crystals make them useful for fabrication of X-ray and gamma ray detectors. FIGURE 4.4 A precipitate of PbI2 forms when solutions containing Pb2+ and I− are mixed. (credit: Der Kreole/ Wikimedia Commons) The solubility guidelines in may be used to predict whether a precipitation reaction will occur when solutions of soluble ionic compounds are mixed together. One merely needs to identify all the ions present in the solution and then consider if possible cation/anion pairing could result in an insoluble compound. For example, mixing solutions of silver nitrate and sodium chloride will yield a solution containing Ag+, Na+, and Cl− ions. Aside from the two ionic compounds originally present in the solutions, AgNO3 and NaCl, two additional ionic compounds may be derived from this collection of ions: NaNO3 and AgCl. The solubility guidelines indicate all nitrate salts are soluble but that AgCl is one of insoluble. A precipitation reaction, therefore, is predicted to occur, as described by the following equations: Predicting Precipitation Reactions Predict the result of mixing reasonably concentrated solutions of the following ionic compounds. If precipitation is expected, write a balanced net ionic equation for the reaction. potassium sulfate and barium nitrate lithium chloride and silver acetate lead nitrate and ammonium carbonate Solution The two possible products for this combination are KNO3 and BaSO4. The solubility guidelines indicate
The two possible products for this combination are LiC2H3O2 and AgCl. The solubility guidelines indicate AgCl is insoluble, and so a precipitation reaction is expected. The net ionic equation for this reaction, derived in the manner detailed in the previous module, is The two possible products for this combination are PbCO3 and NH4NO3. The solubility guidelines indicate PbCO3 is insoluble, and so a precipitation reaction is expected. The net ionic equation for this reaction, derived in the manner detailed in the previous module, is Check Your Learning Which solution could be used to precipitate the barium ion, Ba2+, in a water sample: sodium chloride, sodium hydroxide, or sodium sulfate? What is the formula for the expected precipitate? Answer: sodium sulfate, BaSO4 Acid-Base Reactions An acid-base reaction is one in which a hydrogen ion, H+, is transferred from one chemical species to another. Such reactions are of central importance to numerous natural and technological processes, ranging from the chemical transformations that take place within cells and the lakes and oceans, to the industrial-scale production of fertilizers, pharmaceuticals, and other substances essential to society. The subject of acid-base chemistry, therefore, is worthy of thorough discussion, and a full chapter is devoted to this topic later in the text. For purposes of this brief introduction, we will consider only the more common types of acid-base reactions that take place in aqueous solutions. In this context, an acid is a substance that will dissolve in water to yield hydronium ions, H3O+. As an example, consider the equation shown here: The process represented by this equation confirms that hydrogen chloride is an acid. When dissolved in water, H3O+ ions are produced by a chemical reaction in which H+ ions are transferred from HCl molecules to H2O molecules (). FIGURE 4.5 When hydrogen chloride gas dissolves in water, (a) it reacts as an acid, transferring protons to water molecules to yield (b) hydronium ions (and solvated chloride ions). The nature of HCl is such that its reaction with water as just described is essentially 100% efficient: Virtually every HCl molecule that dissolves in water will undergo this reaction. Acids that completely react in this fashion are called strong acids, and HCl is one among just a handful of common acid compounds that are classified as strong (). A far greater number of compounds behave as weak acids and only partially react with water, leaving a large majority of dissolved molecules in their original form and generating a relatively small amount of hydronium ions. Weak acids are commonly encountered in nature, being the substances partly responsible for the tangy taste of citrus fruits, the stinging sensation of insect bites, and the unpleasant smells associated with body odor. A familiar example of a weak acid is acetic acid, the main ingredient in food vinegars: When dissolved in water under typical conditions, only about 1% of acetic acid molecules are present in the ionized form, (). (The use of a double-arrow in the equation above denotes the partial reaction aspect of this process, a concept addressed fully in the chapters on chemical equilibrium.) FIGURE 4.6 (a) Fruits such as oranges, lemons, and grapefruit contain the weak acid citric acid. (b) Vinegars contain the weak acid acetic acid. (credit a: modification of work by Scott Bauer; credit b: modification of work by Brücke-Osteuropa/Wikimedia Commons)
A base is a substance that will dissolve in water to yield hydroxide ions, OH−. The most common bases are ionic compounds composed of alkali or alkaline earth metal cations (groups 1 and 2) combined with the hydroxide ion—for example, NaOH and Ca(OH)2. Unlike the acid compounds discussed previously, these compounds do not react chemically with water; instead they dissolve and dissociate, releasing hydroxide ions directly into the solution. For example, KOH and Ba(OH)2 dissolve in water and dissociate completely to produce cations (K+ and Ba2+, respectively) and hydroxide ions, OH−. These bases, along with other hydroxides that completely dissociate in water, are considered strong bases. Consider as an example the dissolution of lye (sodium hydroxide) in water: This equation confirms that sodium hydroxide is a base. When dissolved in water, NaOH dissociates to yield Na+ and OH− ions. This is also true for any other ionic compound containing hydroxide ions. Since the dissociation process is essentially complete when ionic compounds dissolve in water under typical conditions, NaOH and other ionic hydroxides are all classified as strong bases. Unlike ionic hydroxides, some compounds produce hydroxide ions when dissolved by chemically reacting with water molecules. In all cases, these compounds react only partially and so are classified as weak bases. These types of compounds are also abundant in nature and important commodities in various technologies. For example, global production of the weak base ammonia is typically well over 100 metric tons annually, being widely used as an agricultural fertilizer, a raw material for chemical synthesis of other compounds, and an active ingredient in household cleaners (). When dissolved in water, ammonia reacts partially to yield hydroxide ions, as shown here: This is, by definition, an acid-base reaction, in this case involving the transfer of H+ ions from water molecules to ammonia molecules. Under typical conditions, only about 1% of the dissolved ammonia is present as ions. FIGURE 4.7 Ammonia is a weak base used in a variety of applications. (a) Pure ammonia is commonly applied as an agricultural fertilizer. (b) Dilute solutions of ammonia are effective household cleansers. (credit a: modification of work by National Resources Conservation Service; credit b: modification of work by pat00139) A neutralization reaction is a specific type of acid-base reaction in which the reactants are an acid and a base (but not water), and the products are often a salt and water To illustrate a neutralization reaction, consider what happens when a typical antacid such as milk of magnesia (an aqueous suspension of solid Mg(OH)2) is ingested to ease symptoms associated with excess stomach acid (HCl):
Writing Equations for Acid-Base Reactions Write balanced chemical equations for the acid-base reactions described here: the weak acid hydrogen hypochlorite reacts with water a solution of barium hydroxide is neutralized with a solution of nitric acid Solution The two reactants are provided, HOCl and H2O. Since the substance is reported to be an acid, its reaction with water will involve the transfer of H+ from HOCl to H2O to generate hydronium ions, H3O+ and hypochlorite ions, OCl−. A double-arrow is appropriate in this equation because it indicates the HOCl is a weak acid that has not reacted completely. The two reactants are provided, Ba(OH)2 and HNO3. Since this is a neutralization reaction, the two products will be water and a salt composed of the cation of the ionic hydroxide (Ba2+) and the anion generated when the acid transfers its hydrogen ion Check Your Learning Write the net ionic equation representing the neutralization of any strong acid with an ionic hydroxide. (Hint: Consider the ions produced when a strong acid is dissolved in water.) Answer: Chemistry in Everyday Life Stomach Antacids Our stomachs contain a solution of roughly 0.03 M HCl, which helps us digest the food we eat. The burning sensation associated with heartburn is a result of the acid of the stomach leaking through the muscular valve at the top of the stomach into the lower reaches of the esophagus. The lining of the esophagus is not protected from the corrosive effects of stomach acid the way the lining of the stomach is, and the results can be very painful. When we have heartburn, it feels better if we reduce the excess acid in the esophagus by taking an antacid. As you may have guessed, antacids are bases. One of the most common antacids is calcium carbonate, CaCO3. The reaction, not only neutralizes stomach acid, it also produces CO2(g), which may result in a satisfying belch. Milk of Magnesia is a suspension of the sparingly soluble base magnesium hydroxide, Mg(OH)2. It works according to the reaction:
This reaction does not produce carbon dioxide, but magnesium-containing antacids can have a laxative effect. Several antacids have aluminum hydroxide, Al(OH)3, as an active ingredient. The aluminum hydroxide tends to cause constipation, and some antacids use aluminum hydroxide in concert with magnesium hydroxide to balance the side effects of the two substances.
Oxidation-Reduction Reactions Earth’s atmosphere contains about 20% molecular oxygen, O2, a chemically reactive gas that plays an essential role in the metabolism of aerobic organisms and in many environmental processes that shape the world. The term oxidation was originally used to describe chemical reactions involving O2, but its meaning has evolved to refer to a broad and important reaction class known as oxidation-reduction (redox) reactions. A few examples of such reactions will be used to develop a clear picture of this classification. Some redox reactions involve the transfer of electrons between reactant species to yield ionic products, such as the reaction between sodium and chlorine to yield sodium chloride:
These equations show that Na atoms lose electrons while Cl atoms (in the Cl2 molecule) gain electrons, the “s” subscripts for the resulting ions signifying they are present in the form of a solid ionic compound. For redox reactions of this sort, the loss and gain of electrons define the complementary processes that occur: In this reaction, then, sodium is oxidized and chlorine undergoes reduction. Viewed from a more active perspective, sodium functions as a reducing agent (reductant), since it provides electrons to (or reduces) chlorine. Likewise, chlorine functions as an oxidizing agent (oxidant), as it effectively removes electrons from (oxidizes) sodium.
The product of this reaction is a covalent compound, so transfer of electrons in the explicit sense is not involved. To clarify the similarity of this reaction to the previous one and permit an unambiguous definition of redox reactions, a property called oxidation number has been defined. The oxidation number (or oxidation state) of an element in a compound is the charge its atoms would possess if the compound were ionic. The following guidelines are used to assign oxidation numbers to each element in a molecule or ion. The oxidation number of an atom in an elemental substance is zero. The oxidation number of a monatomic ion is equal to the ion’s charge. Oxidation numbers for common nonmetals are usually assigned as follows: Hydrogen: +1 when combined with nonmetals, −1 when combined with metals Oxygen: −2 in most compounds, sometimes −1 (so-called peroxides, very rarely (so-called superoxides, positive values when combined with F (values vary) Halogens: −1 for F always, −1 for other halogens except when combined with oxygen or other halogens (positive oxidation numbers in these cases, varying values) The sum of oxidation numbers for all atoms in a molecule or polyatomic ion equals the charge on the molecule or ion. Note: The proper convention for reporting charge is to write the number first, followed by the sign (e.g., 2+), while oxidation number is written with the reversed sequence, sign followed by number (e.g., +2). This convention aims to emphasize the distinction between these two related properties.
For ionic compounds, it’s convenient to assign oxidation numbers for the cation and anion separately. According to guideline 2, the oxidation number for sodium is +1. Assuming the usual oxidation number for oxygen (−2 per guideline 3), the oxidation number for sulfur is calculated as directed by guideline 4:
Using the oxidation number concept, an all-inclusive definition of redox reaction has been established. Oxidation-reduction (redox) reactions are those in which one or more elements involved undergo a change in oxidation number. (While the vast majority of redox reactions involve changes in oxidation number for two or more elements, a few interesting exceptions to this rule do exist .) Definitions for the complementary processes of this reaction class are correspondingly revised as shown here: Returning to the reactions used to introduce this topic, they may now both be identified as redox processes. In the reaction between sodium and chlorine to yield sodium chloride, sodium is oxidized (its oxidation number increases from 0 in Na to +1 in NaCl) and chlorine is reduced (its oxidation number decreases from 0 in Cl2 to −1 in NaCl). In the reaction between molecular hydrogen and chlorine, hydrogen is oxidized (its oxidation number increases from 0 in H2 to +1 in HCl) and chlorine is reduced (its oxidation number decreases from 0 in Cl2 to −1 in HCl). Several subclasses of redox reactions are recognized, including combustion reactions in which the reductant (also called a fuel) and oxidant (often, but not necessarily, molecular oxygen) react vigorously and produce significant amounts of heat, and often light, in the form of a flame. Solid rocket-fuel reactions such as the one depicted in are combustion processes. A typical propellant reaction in which solid aluminum is oxidized by ammonium perchlorate is represented by this equation: LINK TO LEARNING Watch a brief showing the test firing of a small-scale, prototype, hybrid rocket engine planned for use in the new Space Launch System being developed by NASA. The first engines firing at 3 s (green flame) use a liquid fuel/oxidant mixture, and the second, more powerful engines firing at 4 s (yellow flame) use a solid mixture. Single-displacement (replacement) reactions are redox reactions in which an ion in solution is displaced (or replaced) via the oxidation of a metallic element. One common example of this type of reaction is the acid oxidation of certain metals:
This reaction may be observed by placing copper wire in a solution containing a dissolved silver salt. Silver ions in solution are reduced to elemental silver at the surface of the copper wire, and the resulting Cu2+ ions dissolve in the solution to yield a characteristic blue color (). FIGURE 4.9 (a) A copper wire is shown next to a solution containing silver(I) ions. (b) Displacement of dissolved silver ions by copper ions results in (c) accumulation of gray-colored silver metal on the wire and development of a blue color in the solution, due to dissolved copper ions. (credit: modification of work by Mark Ott) Describing Redox Reactions Identify which equations represent redox reactions, providing a name for the reaction if appropriate. For those reactions identified as redox, name the oxidant and reductant. (a) (b) (c) (d) (e) Solution Redox reactions are identified per definition if one or more elements undergo a change in oxidation number. This is not a redox reaction, since oxidation numbers remain unchanged for all elements. This is a redox reaction. Gallium is oxidized, its oxidation number increasing from 0 in Ga(l) to +3 in GaBr3(s). The reducing agent is Ga(l). Bromine is reduced, its oxidation number decreasing from 0 in Br2(l) to −1 in GaBr3(s). The oxidizing agent is Br2(l). This is a redox reaction. It is a particularly interesting process, as it involves the same element, oxygen, undergoing both oxidation and reduction (a so-called disproportionation reaction). Oxygen is oxidized, its oxidation number increasing from −1 in H2O2(aq) to 0 in O2(g). Oxygen is also reduced, its oxidation number decreasing from −1 in H2O2(aq) to −2 in H2O(l). For disproportionation reactions, the same substance functions as an oxidant and a reductant. This is not a redox reaction, since oxidation numbers remain unchanged for all elements. This is a redox reaction (combustion). Carbon is oxidized, its oxidation number increasing from −2 in C2H4(g) to +4 in CO2(g). The reducing agent (fuel) is C2H4(g). Oxygen is reduced, its oxidation number decreasing from 0 in O2(g) to −2 in H2O(l). The oxidizing agent is O2(g). Check Your Learning This equation describes the production of tin(II) chloride: Is this a redox reaction? If so, provide a more specific name for the reaction if appropriate, and identify the oxidant and reductant. Answer: Yes, a single-replacement reaction. Sn(s)is the reductant, HCl(g) is the oxidant. Balancing Redox Reactions via the Half-Reaction Method Redox reactions that take place in aqueous media often involve water, hydronium ions, and hydroxide ions as reactants or products. Although these species are not oxidized or reduced, they do participate in chemical change in other ways (e.g., by providing the elements required to form oxyanions). Equations representing these reactions are sometimes very difficult to balance by inspection, so systematic approaches have been developed to assist in the process. One very useful approach is to use the method of half-reactions, which involves the following steps: Write the two half-reactions representing the redox process. Balance all elements except oxygen and hydrogen. Balance oxygen atoms by adding H2O molecules. Balance hydrogen atoms by adding H+ ions. Balance charge by adding electrons. If necessary, multiply each half-reaction’s coefficients by the smallest possible integers to yield equal numbers of electrons in each. Add the balanced half-reactions together and simplify by removing species that appear on both sides of the equation. For reactions occurring in basic media (excess hydroxide ions), carry out these additional steps: Add OH− ions to both sides of the equation in numbers equal to the number of H+ ions. On the side of the equation containing both H+ and OH− ions, combine these ions to yield water molecules. Simplify the equation by removing any redundant water molecules.
Step 2. Balance all elements except oxygen and hydrogen. The iron half-reaction is already balanced, but the chromium half-reaction shows two Cr atoms on the left and one Cr atom on the right. Changing the coefficient on the right side of the equation to 2 achieves balance with regard to Cr atoms. Step 3. Balance oxygen atoms by adding H2O molecules. The iron half-reaction does not contain O atoms. The chromium half-reaction shows seven O atoms on the left and none on the right, so seven water molecules are added to the right side. Step 4. Balance hydrogen atoms by adding H+ions. The iron half-reaction does not contain H atoms. The chromium half-reaction shows 14 H atoms on the right and none on the left, so 14 hydrogen ions are added to the left side. Step 5. Balance charge by adding electrons. The iron half-reaction shows a total charge of 2+ on the left side (1 Fe2+ ion) and 3+ on the right side (1 Fe3+ ion). Adding one electron to the right side brings that side’s total charge to (3+) + (1−) = 2+, and charge balance is achieved. The chromium half-reaction shows a total charge of (1 2−) + (14 1+) = 12+ on the left side ion and 14 H+ ions). The total charge on the right side is (2 3+) = 6 + (2 Cr3+ ions). Adding six electrons to 1 The requirement of “charge balance” is just a specific type of “mass balance” in which the species in question are electrons. An equation must represent equal numbers of electrons on the reactant and product sides, and so both atoms and charges must be balanced.
Step 6. Multiply the two half-reactions so the number of electrons in one reaction equals the number of electrons in the other reaction. To be consistent with mass conservation, and the idea that redox reactions involve the transfer (not creation or destruction) of electrons, the iron half-reaction’s coefficient must be multiplied by 6.
Check Your Learning In basic solution, molecular chlorine, Cl2, reacts with hydroxide ions, OH−, to yield chloride ions, Cl−. and chlorate ions, ClO −. HINT: This is a disproportionation reaction in which the element chlorine is both oxidized and reduced. Write a balanced equation for this reaction. Answer: Reaction Stoichiometry LEARNING OBJECTIVES By the end of this section, you will be able to: Explain the concept of stoichiometry as it pertains to chemical reactions Use balanced chemical equations to derive stoichiometric factors relating amounts of reactants and products Perform stoichiometric calculations involving mass, moles, and solution molarity A balanced chemical equation provides a great deal of information in a very succinct format. Chemical formulas provide the identities of the reactants and products involved in the chemical change, allowing classification of the reaction. Coefficients provide the relative numbers of these chemical species, allowing a quantitative assessment of the relationships between the amounts of substances consumed and produced by the reaction. These quantitative relationships are known as the reaction’s stoichiometry, a term derived from the Greek words stoicheion (meaning “element”) and metron (meaning “measure”). In this module, the use of balanced chemical equations for various stoichiometric applications is explored. The general approach to using stoichiometric relationships is similar in concept to the way people go about many common activities. Food preparation, for example, offers an appropriate comparison. A recipe for making eight pancakes calls for 1 cup pancake mix, cup milk, and one egg. The “equation” representing the preparation of pancakes per this recipe is If two dozen pancakes are needed for a big family breakfast, the ingredient amounts must be increased proportionally according to the amounts given in the recipe. For example, the number of eggs required to make 24 pancakes is Balanced chemical equations are used in much the same fashion to determine the amount of one reactant required to react with a given amount of another reactant, or to yield a given amount of product, and so forth. The coefficients in the balanced equation are used to derive stoichiometric factors that permit computation of the desired quantity. To illustrate this idea, consider the production of ammonia by reaction of hydrogen and nitrogen:
These stoichiometric factors can be used to compute the number of ammonia molecules produced from a given number of hydrogen molecules, or the number of hydrogen molecules required to produce a given number of ammonia molecules. Similar factors may be derived for any pair of substances in any chemical equation.
FIGURE 4.10 Aluminum and iodine react to produce aluminum iodide. The heat of the reaction vaporizes some of the solid iodine as a purple vapor. (credit: modification of work by Mark Ott) Solution Referring to the balanced chemical equation, the stoichiometric factor relating the two substances of interest
Solution The approach here is the same as for , though the absolute number of molecules is requested, not the number of moles of molecules. This will simply require use of the moles-to-numbers conversion factor, Avogadro’s number. The balanced equation shows that carbon dioxide is produced from propane in a 3:1 ratio:
These examples illustrate the ease with which the amounts of substances involved in a chemical reaction of known stoichiometry may be related. Directly measuring numbers of atoms and molecules is, however, not an
Relating Masses of Reactants and Products What mass of sodium hydroxide, NaOH, would be required to produce 16 g of the antacid milk of magnesia [magnesium hydroxide, Mg(OH)2] by the following reaction? Solution The approach used previously in and is likewise used here; that is, we must derive an appropriate stoichiometric factor from the balanced chemical equation and use it to relate the amounts of the two substances of interest. In this case, however, masses (not molar amounts) are provided and requested, so additional steps of the sort learned in the previous chapter are required. The calculations required are outlined in this flowchart:
These examples illustrate just a few instances of reaction stoichiometry calculations. Numerous variations on the beginning and ending computational steps are possible depending upon what particular quantities are provided and sought (volumes, solution concentrations, and so forth). Regardless of the details, all these calculations share a common essential component: the use of stoichiometric factors derived from balanced chemical equations. provides a general outline of the various computational steps associated with many reaction stoichiometry calculations.
Reaction Yields LEARNING OBJECTIVES By the end of this section, you will be able to: Explain the concepts of theoretical yield and limiting reactants/reagents. Derive the theoretical yield for a reaction under specified conditions. Calculate the percent yield for a reaction. The relative amounts of reactants and products represented in a balanced chemical equation are often referred to as stoichiometric amounts. All the exercises of the preceding module involved stoichiometric amounts of reactants. For example, when calculating the amount of product generated from a given amount of reactant, it was assumed that any other reactants required were available in stoichiometric amounts (or greater). In this module, more realistic situations are considered, in which reactants are not present in stoichiometric amounts. Limiting Reactant Consider another food analogy, making grilled cheese sandwiches ():
Provided with 28 slices of bread and 11 slices of cheese, one may prepare 11 sandwiches per the provided recipe, using all the provided cheese and having six slices of bread left over. In this scenario, the number of sandwiches prepared has been limited by the number of cheese slices, and the bread slices have been provided in excess. FIGURE 4.13 Sandwich making can illustrate the concepts of limiting and excess reactants. Consider this concept now with regard to a chemical process, the reaction of hydrogen with chlorine to yield hydrogen chloride: The balanced equation shows the hydrogen and chlorine react in a 1:1 stoichiometric ratio. If these reactants are provided in any other amounts, one of the reactants will nearly always be entirely consumed, thus limiting the amount of product that may be generated. This substance is the limiting reactant, and the other substance is the excess reactant. Identifying the limiting and excess reactants for a given situation requires computing the molar amounts of each reactant provided and comparing them to the stoichiometric amounts represented in the balanced chemical equation. For example, imagine combining 3 moles of H2 and 2 moles of Cl2. This represents a 3:2 (or 1.5:1) ratio of hydrogen to chlorine present for reaction, which is greater than the stoichiometric ratio of 1:1. Hydrogen, therefore, is present in excess, and chlorine is the limiting reactant. Reaction of all the provided chlorine (2 mol) will consume 2 mol of the 3 mol of hydrogen provided, leaving 1 mol of hydrogen unreacted. An alternative approach to identifying the limiting reactant involves comparing the amount of product expected for the complete reaction of each reactant. Each reactant amount is used to separately calculate the amount of product that would be formed per the reaction’s stoichiometry. The reactant yielding the lesser amount of product is the limiting reactant. For the example in the previous paragraph, complete reaction of the hydrogen would yield
The chlorine will be completely consumed once 4 moles of HCl have been produced. Since enough hydrogen was provided to yield 6 moles of HCl, there will be unreacted hydrogen remaining once this reaction is complete. Chlorine, therefore, is the limiting reactant and hydrogen is the excess reactant (). FIGURE 4.14 When H2 and Cl2 are combined in nonstoichiometric amounts, one of these reactants will limit the amount of HCl that can be produced. This illustration shows a reaction in which hydrogen is present in excess and chlorine is the limiting reactant. LINK TO LEARNING View this interactive illustrating the concepts of limiting and excess reactants. Identifying the Limiting Reactant Silicon nitride is a very hard, high-temperature-resistant ceramic used as a component of turbine blades in jet engines. It is prepared according to the following equation: Which is the limiting reactant when 2.00 g of Si and 1.50 g of N2 react? Solution Compute the provided molar amounts of reactants, and then compare these amounts to the balanced equation to identify the limiting reactant.
Comparing these ratios shows that Si is provided in a less-than-stoichiometric amount, and so is the limiting reactant. Alternatively, compute the amount of product expected for complete reaction of each of the provided reactants. The 0.0712 moles of silicon would yield
Percent Yield The amount of product that may be produced by a reaction under specified conditions, as calculated per the stoichiometry of an appropriate balanced chemical equation, is called the theoretical yield of the reaction. In practice, the amount of product obtained is called the actual yield, and it is often less than the theoretical yield for a number of reasons. Some reactions are inherently inefficient, being accompanied by side reactions that generate other products. Others are, by nature, incomplete (consider the partial reactions of weak acids and bases discussed earlier in this chapter). Some products are difficult to collect without some loss, and so less than perfect recovery will reduce the actual yield. The extent to which a reaction’s theoretical yield is achieved is commonly expressed as its percent yield: Actual and theoretical yields may be expressed as masses or molar amounts (or any other appropriate property; e.g., volume, if the product is a gas). As long as both yields are expressed using the same units, these units will cancel when percent yield is calculated.
What is the percent yield? Solution The provided information identifies copper sulfate as the limiting reactant, and so the theoretical yield is found by the approach illustrated in the previous module, as shown here:
Green Chemistry and Atom Economy The purposeful design of chemical products and processes that minimize the use of environmentally hazardous substances and the generation of waste is known as green chemistry. Green chemistry is a philosophical approach that is being applied to many areas of science and technology, and its practice is summarized by guidelines known as the “Twelve Principles of Green Chemistry” (see details at this ). One of the 12 principles is aimed specifically at maximizing the efficiency of processes for synthesizing chemical products. The atom economy of a process is a measure of this efficiency, defined as the percentage by mass of the final product of a synthesis relative to the masses of all the reactants used: Though the definition of atom economy at first glance appears very similar to that for percent yield, be aware that this property represents a difference in the theoretical efficiencies of different chemical processes. The percent yield of a given chemical process, on the other hand, evaluates the efficiency of a process by comparing the yield of product actually obtained to the maximum yield predicted by stoichiometry. The synthesis of the common nonprescription pain medication, ibuprofen, nicely illustrates the success of a green chemistry approach (). First marketed in the early 1960s, ibuprofen was produced using a six-step synthesis that required 514 g of reactants to generate each mole (206 g) of ibuprofen, an atom economy of 40%. In the 1990s, an alternative process was developed by the BHC Company (now BASF Corporation) that requires only three steps and has an atom economy of ~80%, nearly twice that of the original process. The BHC process generates significantly less chemical waste; uses less-hazardous and recyclable materials; and provides significant cost-savings to the manufacturer (and, subsequently, the consumer). In recognition of the positive environmental impact of the BHC process, the company received the Environmental Protection Agency’s Greener Synthetic Pathways Award in 1997. FIGURE 4.15 (a) Ibuprofen is a popular nonprescription pain medication commonly sold as 200 mg tablets. (b) The BHC process for synthesizing ibuprofen requires only three steps and exhibits an impressive atom economy. (credit a: modification of work by Derrick Coetzee) Quantitative Chemical Analysis LEARNING OBJECTIVES By the end of this section, you will be able to: Describe the fundamental aspects of titrations and gravimetric analysis. Perform stoichiometric calculations using typical titration and gravimetric data. In the 18th century, the strength (actually the concentration) of vinegar samples was determined by noting the amount of potassium carbonate, K2CO3, which had to be added, a little at a time, before bubbling ceased. The greater the weight of potassium carbonate added to reach the point where the bubbling ended, the more concentrated the vinegar. We now know that the effervescence that occurred during this process was due to reaction with acetic acid, CH3CO2H, the compound primarily responsible for the odor and taste of vinegar. Acetic acid reacts with potassium carbonate according to the following equation:
amount or concentration of a substance in a sample. In the analysis of vinegar, the concentration of the solute (acetic acid) was determined from the amount of reactant that combined with the solute present in a known volume of the solution. In other types of chemical analyses, the amount of a substance present in a sample is determined by measuring the amount of product that results. Titration The described approach to measuring vinegar strength was an early version of the analytical technique known as titration analysis. A typical titration analysis involves the use of a buret () to make incremental additions of a solution containing a known concentration of some substance (the titrant) to a sample solution containing the substance whose concentration is to be measured (the analyte). The titrant and analyte undergo a chemical reaction of known stoichiometry, and so measuring the volume of titrant solution required for complete reaction with the analyte (the equivalence point of the titration) allows calculation of the analyte concentration. The equivalence point of a titration may be detected visually if a distinct change in the appearance of the sample solution accompanies the completion of the reaction. The halt of bubble formation in the classic vinegar analysis is one such example, though, more commonly, special dyes called indicators are added to the sample solutions to impart a change in color at or very near the equivalence point of the titration. Equivalence points may also be detected by measuring some solution property that changes in a predictable way during the course of the titration. Regardless of the approach taken to detect a titration’s equivalence point, the volume of titrant actually measured is called the end point. Properly designed titration methods typically ensure that the difference between the equivalence and end points is negligible. Though any type of chemical reaction may serve as the basis for a titration analysis, the three described in this chapter (precipitation, acid-base, and redox) are most common. Additional details regarding titration analysis are provided in the chapter on acid-base equilibria. FIGURE 4.16 (a) A student fills a buret in preparation for a titration analysis. (b) A typical buret permits volume measurements to the nearest 0.01 mL. (credit a: modification of work by Mark Blaser and Matt Evans; credit b: modification of work by Mark Blaser and Matt Evans)
What is the molarity of the HCl? Solution As for all reaction stoichiometry calculations, the key issue is the relation between the molar amounts of the chemical species of interest as depicted in the balanced chemical equation. The approach outlined in previous modules of this chapter is followed, with additional considerations required, since the amounts of reactants provided and requested are expressed as solution concentrations. For this exercise, the calculation will follow the following outlined steps:
Gravimetric Analysis A gravimetric analysis is one in which a sample is subjected to some treatment that causes a change in the physical state of the analyte that permits its separation from the other components of the sample. Mass measurements of the sample, the isolated analyte, or some other component of the analysis system, used along with the known stoichiometry of the compounds involved, permit calculation of the analyte concentration. Gravimetric methods were the first techniques used for quantitative chemical analysis, and they remain important tools in the modern chemistry laboratory. The required change of state in a gravimetric analysis may be achieved by various physical and chemical processes. For example, the moisture (water) content of a sample is routinely determined by measuring the mass of a sample before and after it is subjected to a controlled heating process that evaporates the water. Also common are gravimetric techniques in which the analyte is subjected to a precipitation reaction of the sort described earlier in this chapter. The precipitate is typically isolated from the reaction mixture by filtration, carefully dried, and then weighed (). The mass of the precipitate may then be used, along with relevant stoichiometric relationships, to calculate analyte concentration.
What is the concentration (mass percent) of MgSO4 in the mixture? Solution The plan for this calculation is similar to others used in stoichiometric calculations, the central step being the connection between the moles of BaSO4 and MgSO4 through their stoichiometric factor. Once the mass of MgSO4 is computed, it may be used along with the mass of the sample mixture to calculate the requested percentage concentration.
The elemental composition of hydrocarbons and related compounds may be determined via a gravimetric method known as combustion analysis. In a combustion analysis, a weighed sample of the compound is heated to a high temperature under a stream of oxygen gas, resulting in its complete combustion to yield gaseous products of known identities. The complete combustion of hydrocarbons, for example, will yield carbon dioxide and water as the only products. The gaseous combustion products are swept through separate, preweighed collection devices containing compounds that selectively absorb each product (). The mass increase of each device corresponds to the mass of the absorbed product and may be used in an appropriate stoichiometric calculation to derive the mass of the relevant element.
Combustion Analysis Polyethylene is a hydrocarbon polymer used to produce food-storage bags and many other flexible plastic items. A combustion analysis of a 0.00126-g sample of polyethylene yields 0.00394 g of CO2 and 0.00161 g of H2O. What is the empirical formula of polyethylene? Solution The primary assumption in this exercise is that all the carbon in the sample combusted is converted to carbon dioxide, and all the hydrogen in the sample is converted to water: Note that a balanced equation is not necessary for the task at hand. To derive the empirical formula of the compound, only the subscripts x and y are needed. First, calculate the molar amounts of carbon and hydrogen in the sample, using the provided masses of the carbon dioxide and water, respectively. With these molar amounts, the empirical formula for the compound may be written as described in the previous chapter of this text. An outline of this approach is given in the following flow chart:
and the empirical formula for polyethylene is CH2. Check Your Learning A 0.00215-g sample of polystyrene, a polymer composed of carbon and hydrogen, produced 0.00726 g of CO2 and 0.00148 g of H2O in a combustion analysis. What is the empirical formula for polystyrene? Answer: CH Key Terms acid substance that produces H3O+ when dissolved in water acid-base reaction reaction involving the transfer of a hydrogen ion between reactant species actual yield amount of product formed in a reaction analyte chemical species of interest balanced equation chemical equation with equal numbers of atoms for each element in the reactant and product base substance that produces OH− when dissolved in water buret device used for the precise delivery of variable liquid volumes, such as in a titration analysis chemical equation symbolic representation of a chemical reaction coefficient number placed in front of symbols or formulas in a chemical equation to indicate their relative amount combustion analysis gravimetric technique used to determine the elemental composition of a compound via the collection and weighing of its gaseous combustion products combustion reaction vigorous redox reaction producing significant amounts of energy in the form of heat and, sometimes, light complete ionic equation chemical equation in which all dissolved ionic reactants and products, including spectator ions, are explicitly represented by formulas for their dissociated ions end point measured volume of titrant solution that yields the change in sample solution appearance or other property expected for stoichiometric equivalence (see equivalence point) equivalence point volume of titrant solution required to react completely with the analyte in a titration analysis; provides a stoichiometric amount of titrant for the sample’s analyte according to the titration reaction excess reactant reactant present in an amount greater than required by the reaction stoichiometry gravimetric analysis quantitative chemical analysis method involving the separation of an analyte from a sample by a physical or chemical process and subsequent mass measurements of the analyte, reaction product, and/or sample half-reaction an equation that shows whether each reactant loses or gains electrons in a reaction. indicator substance added to the sample in a titration analysis to permit visual detection of the end point insoluble of relatively low solubility; dissolving only to a slight extent limiting reactant reactant present in an amount lower than required by the reaction stoichiometry, thus limiting the amount of product generated molecular equation chemical equation in which all reactants and products are represented as neutral substances net ionic equation chemical equation in which only those dissolved ionic reactants and products that undergo a chemical or physical change are represented (excludes spectator ions) neutralization reaction reaction between an acid and a base to produce salt and water oxidation process in which an element’s oxidation number is increased by loss of electrons oxidation number (also, oxidation state) the charge each atom of an element would have in a compound if the compound were ionic oxidation-reduction reaction (also, redox reaction) reaction involving a change in oxidation number for one or more reactant elements oxidizing agent (also, oxidant) substance that brings about the oxidation of another substance, and in the process becomes reduced percent yield measure of the efficiency of a reaction, expressed as a percentage of the theoretical yield precipitate insoluble product that forms from reaction of soluble reactants precipitation reaction reaction that produces one or more insoluble products; when reactants are ionic compounds, sometimes called double- displacement or metathesis product substance formed by a chemical or physical change; shown on the right side of the arrow in a chemical equation quantitative analysis the determination of the amount or concentration of a substance in a sample reactant substance undergoing a chemical or physical change; shown on the left side of the arrow in a chemical equation reducing agent (also, reductant) substance that brings about the reduction of another substance, and in the process becomes oxidized reduction process in which an element’s oxidation number is decreased by gain of electrons salt ionic compound that can be formed by the reaction of an acid with a base that contains a cation and an anion other than hydroxide or oxide single-displacement reaction (also, replacement) redox reaction involving the oxidation of an elemental substance by an ionic species solubility the extent to which a substance may be dissolved in water, or any solvent soluble of relatively high solubility; dissolving to a relatively large extent spectator ion ion that does not undergo a chemical or physical change during a reaction, but its presence is required to maintain charge neutrality stoichiometric factor ratio of coefficients in a balanced chemical equation, used in computations relating amounts of reactants and products stoichiometry relationships between the amounts
Chemical equations are symbolic representations of chemical and physical changes. Formulas for the substances undergoing the change (reactants) and substances generated by the change (products) are separated by an arrow and preceded by integer coefficients indicating their relative numbers. Balanced equations are those whose coefficients result in equal numbers of atoms for each element in the reactants and products. Chemical reactions in aqueous solution that involve ionic reactants or products may be represented more realistically by complete ionic equations and, more succinctly, by net ionic equations. Chemical reactions are classified according to similar patterns of behavior. A large number of important reactions are included in three categories: precipitation, acid-base, and oxidation- reduction (redox). Precipitation reactions involve the formation of one or more insoluble products. Acid-base reactions involve the transfer of hydrogen ions between reactants. Redox reactions involve a change in oxidation number for one or more reactant elements. Writing balanced equations for of reactants and products of a chemical reaction strong acid acid that reacts completely when dissolved in water to yield hydronium ions strong base base that reacts completely when dissolved in water to yield hydroxide ions theoretical yield amount of product that may be produced from a given amount of reactant(s) according to the reaction stoichiometry titrant solution containing a known concentration of substance that will react with the analyte in a titration analysis titration analysis quantitative chemical analysis method that involves measuring the volume of a reactant solution required to completely react with the analyte in a sample weak acid acid that reacts only to a slight extent when dissolved in water to yield hydronium ions weak base base that reacts only to a slight extent when dissolved in water to yield hydroxide ions
A balanced chemical equation may be used to describe a reaction’s stoichiometry (the relationships between amounts of reactants and products). Coefficients from the equation are used to derive stoichiometric factors that subsequently may be used for computations relating reactant and product masses, molar amounts, and other quantitative properties. When reactions are carried out using less-than- stoichiometric quantities of reactants, the amount of product generated will be determined by the limiting reactant. The amount of product generated by a chemical reaction is its actual yield. This yield is often less than the amount of product predicted by the stoichiometry of the balanced chemical equation representing the reaction (its theoretical yield). The extent to which a reaction generates the theoretical amount of product is expressed as its percent yield. The stoichiometry of chemical reactions may serve as the basis for quantitative chemical analysis methods. Titrations involve measuring the volume of a titrant solution required to completely react with a sample solution. This volume is then used to calculate the concentration of analyte in the sample using the stoichiometry of the titration reaction. Gravimetric analysis involves separating the analyte
from the sample by a physical or chemical process, determining its mass, and then calculating its concentration in the sample based on the stoichiometry of the relevant process. Combustion analysis is a gravimetric method used to determine the elemental composition of a compound by collecting and weighing the gaseous products of its combustion. What does it mean to say an equation is balanced? Why is it important for an equation to be balanced? Consider molecular, complete ionic, and net ionic equations. What is the difference between these types of equations? In what circumstance would the complete and net ionic equations for a reaction be identical? Balance the following equations: (a) (b) (c) (d) (e) Balance the following equations: (a) (b) (c) (d) (e) (f ) (g) (h) Write a balanced molecular equation describing each of the following chemical reactions. Solid calcium carbonate is heated and decomposes to solid calcium oxide and carbon dioxide gas. Gaseous butane, C4H10, reacts with diatomic oxygen gas to yield gaseous carbon dioxide and water vapor. Aqueous solutions of magnesium chloride and sodium hydroxide react to produce solid magnesium hydroxide and aqueous sodium chloride. Water vapor reacts with sodium metal to produce solid sodium hydroxide and hydrogen gas. Write a balanced equation describing each of the following chemical reactions. Solid potassium chlorate, KClO3, decomposes to form solid potassium chloride and diatomic oxygen gas. Solid aluminum metal reacts with solid diatomic iodine to form solid Al2I6. When solid sodium chloride is added to aqueous sulfuric acid, hydrogen chloride gas and aqueous sodium sulfate are produced. Aqueous solutions of phosphoric acid and potassium hydroxide react to produce aqueous potassium dihydrogen phosphate and liquid water. Colorful fireworks often involve the decomposition of barium nitrate and potassium chlorate and the reaction of the metals magnesium, aluminum, and iron with oxygen. Write the formulas of barium nitrate and potassium chlorate. The decomposition of solid potassium chlorate leads to the formation of solid potassium chloride and diatomic oxygen gas. Write an equation for the reaction. The decomposition of solid barium nitrate leads to the formation of solid barium oxide, diatomic nitrogen gas, and diatomic oxygen gas. Write an equation for the reaction. Write separate equations for the reactions of the solid metals magnesium, aluminum, and iron with diatomic oxygen gas to yield the corresponding metal oxides. (Assume the iron oxide contains Fe3+ ions.) Fill in the blank with a single chemical formula for a covalent compound that will balance the equation: Aqueous hydrogen fluoride (hydrofluoric acid) is used to etch glass and to analyze minerals for their silicon content. Hydrogen fluoride will also react with sand (silicon dioxide). Write an equation for the reaction of solid silicon dioxide with hydrofluoric acid to yield gaseous silicon tetrafluoride and liquid water. The mineral fluorite (calcium fluoride) occurs extensively in Illinois. Solid calcium fluoride can also be prepared by the reaction of aqueous solutions of calcium chloride and sodium fluoride, yielding aqueous sodium chloride as the other product. Write complete and net ionic equations for this reaction. A novel process for obtaining magnesium from sea water involves several reactions. Write a balanced chemical equation for each step of the process. The first step is the decomposition of solid calcium carbonate from seashells to form solid calcium oxide and gaseous carbon dioxide. The second step is the formation of solid calcium hydroxide as the only product from the reaction of the solid calcium oxide with liquid water. Solid calcium hydroxide is then added to the seawater, reacting with dissolved magnesium chloride to yield solid magnesium hydroxide and aqueous calcium chloride. The solid magnesium hydroxide is added to a hydrochloric acid solution, producing dissolved magnesium chloride and liquid water. Finally, the magnesium chloride is melted and electrolyzed to yield liquid magnesium metal and diatomic chlorine gas. From the balanced molecular equations, write the complete ionic and net ionic equations for the following: (a) (b) (c) Use the following equations to answer the next four questions: i. ii. iii. iv. v. Which equation describes a physical change? Which equation identifies the reactants and products of a combustion reaction? Which equation is not balanced? Which is a net ionic equation? Indicate what type, or types, of reaction each of the following represents: (a) (b) (c) Indicate what type, or types, of reaction each of the following represents: (a) (b) (c) (d) Silver can be separated from gold because silver dissolves in nitric acid while gold does not. Is the dissolution of silver in nitric acid an acid-base reaction or an oxidation-reduction reaction? Explain your answer. Determine the oxidation states of the elements in the following compounds: NaI GdCl3 LiNO3 H2Se Mg2Si RbO2, rubidium superoxide HF Determine the oxidation states of the elements in the compounds listed. None of the oxygen-containing compounds are peroxides or superoxides. H3PO4 Al(OH)3 SeO2 KNO2 In2S3 P4O6 Determine the oxidation states of the elements in the compounds listed. None of the oxygen-containing compounds are peroxides or superoxides. H2SO4 Ca(OH)2 BrOH ClNO2 TiCl4 NaH Classify the following as acid-base reactions or oxidation-reduction reactions: (a) (b) (c) (d) (e) (f ) Identify the atoms that are oxidized and reduced, the change in oxidation state for each, and the oxidizing and reducing agents in each of the following equations: (a) (b) (c) (d) (e) (f ) Complete and balance the following acid-base equations: HCl gas reacts with solid Ca(OH)2(s). A solution of Sr(OH)2 is added to a solution of HNO3. Complete and balance the following acid-base equations: A solution of HClO4 is added to a solution of LiOH. Aqueous H2SO4 reacts with NaOH. Ba(OH)2 reacts with HF gas. Complete and balance the following oxidation-reduction reactions, which give the highest possible oxidation state for the oxidized atoms. (a) (b) (single displacement) (c) (d) (products are a strong base and a diatomic gas) Complete and balance the following oxidation-reduction reactions, which give the highest possible oxidation state for the oxidized atoms. (a) (b) (c) Complete and balance the equations for the following acid-base neutralization reactions. If water is used as a solvent, write the reactants and products as aqueous ions. In some cases, there may be more than one correct answer, depending on the amounts of reactants used. (a) (b) (c) When heated to 700–800 °C, diamonds, which are pure carbon, are oxidized by atmospheric oxygen. (They burn!) Write the balanced equation for this reaction. The military has experimented with lasers that produce very intense light when fluorine combines explosively with hydrogen. What is the balanced equation for this reaction? Write the molecular, total ionic, and net ionic equations for the following reactions: (a) (b) Great Lakes Chemical Company produces bromine, Br2, from bromide salts such as NaBr, in Arkansas brine by treating the brine with chlorine gas. Write a balanced equation for the reaction of NaBr with Cl2. In a common experiment in the general chemistry laboratory, magnesium metal is heated in air to produce MgO. MgO is a white solid, but in these experiments it often looks gray, due to small amounts of Mg3N2, a compound formed as some of the magnesium reacts with nitrogen. Write a balanced equation for each reaction. Lithium hydroxide may be used to absorb carbon dioxide in enclosed environments, such as manned spacecraft and submarines. Write an equation for the reaction that involves 2 mol of LiOH per 1 mol of CO2. (Hint: Water is one of the products.) Calcium propionate is sometimes added to bread to retard spoilage. This compound can be prepared by the reaction of calcium carbonate, CaCO3, with propionic acid, C2H5CO2H, which has properties similar to those of acetic acid. Write the balanced equation for the formation of calcium propionate. Complete and balance the equations of the following reactions, each of which could be used to remove hydrogen sulfide from natural gas: (a) (b) Copper(II) sulfide is oxidized by molecular oxygen to produce gaseous sulfur trioxide and solid copper(II) oxide. The gaseous product then reacts with liquid water to produce liquid dihydrogen sulfate as the only product. Write the two equations which represent these reactions. Write balanced chemical equations for the reactions used to prepare each of the following compounds from the given starting material(s). In some cases, additional reactants may be required. solid ammonium nitrate from gaseous molecular nitrogen via a two-step process (first reduce the nitrogen to ammonia, then neutralize the ammonia with an appropriate acid) gaseous hydrogen bromide from liquid molecular bromine via a one-step redox reaction gaseous H2S from solid Zn and S via a two-step process (first a redox reaction between the starting materials, then reaction of the product with a strong acid) Calcium cyclamate Ca(C6H11NHSO3)2 is an artificial sweetener used in many countries around the world but is banned in the United States. It can be purified industrially by converting it to the barium salt through reaction of the acid C6H11NHSO3H with barium carbonate, treatment with sulfuric acid (barium sulfate is very insoluble), and then neutralization with calcium hydroxide. Write the balanced equations for these reactions. Complete and balance each of the following half-reactions (steps 2–5 in half-reaction method): (a) (b) (c) (d) (in acidic solution) (e) (in basic solution) (f ) (in acidic solution) (g) (in acidic solution) (h) (in basic solution) Complete and balance each of the following half-reactions (steps 2–5 in half-reaction method): (a) (b) (c) (d) (in basic solution) (e) (in acidic solution) (f ) (in acidic solution) (g) (in basic solution) (h) (in acidic solution) Balance each of the following equations according to the half-reaction method: (a) (b) (c) (d) (e) Balance each of the following equations according to the half-reaction method: (a) (b) (c) (d) (e) (f ) (g) Balance each of the following equations according to the half-reaction method: (a) (b) (c) Write the balanced equation, then outline the steps necessary to determine the information requested in each of the following: The number of moles and the mass of chlorine, Cl2, required to react with 10.0 g of sodium metal, Na, to produce sodium chloride, NaCl. The number of moles and the mass of oxygen formed by the decomposition of 1.252 g of mercury(II) oxide. The number of moles and the mass of sodium nitrate, NaNO3, required to produce 128 g of oxygen. (NaNO2 is the other product.) The number of moles and the mass of carbon dioxide formed by the combustion of 20.0 kg of carbon in an excess of oxygen. The number of moles and the mass of copper(II) carbonate needed to produce 1.500 kg of copper(II) oxide. (CO2 is the other product.) Determine the number of moles and the mass requested for each reaction in . Write the balanced equation, then outline the steps necessary to determine the information requested in each of the following: The number of moles and the mass of Mg required to react with 5.00 g of HCl and produce MgCl2 and H2. The number of moles and the mass of oxygen formed by the decomposition of 1.252 g of silver(I) oxide. The number of moles and the mass of magnesium carbonate, MgCO3, required to produce 283 g of carbon dioxide. (MgO is the other product.) The number of moles and the mass of water formed by the combustion of 20.0 kg of acetylene, C2H2, in an excess of oxygen. The number of moles and the mass of barium peroxide, BaO2, needed to produce 2.500 kg of barium oxide, BaO (O2 is the other product.) Determine the number of moles and the mass requested for each reaction in . H2 is produced by the reaction of 118.5 mL of a 0.8775-M solution of H3PO4 according to the following equation: Outline the steps necessary to determine the number of moles and mass of H2. Perform the calculations outlined. Gallium chloride is formed by the reaction of 2.6 L of a 1.44 M solution of HCl according to the following equation: Outline the steps necessary to determine the number of moles and mass of gallium chloride. Perform the calculations outlined. I2 is produced by the reaction of 0.4235 mol of CuCl2 according to the following equation: How many molecules of I2 are produced? What mass of I2 is produced? Silver is often extracted from ores such as K[Ag(CN)2] and then recovered by the reaction How many molecules of Zn(CN)2 are produced by the reaction of 35.27 g of K[Ag(CN)2]? What mass of Zn(CN)2 is produced? What mass of silver oxide, Ag2O, is required to produce 25.0 g of silver sulfadiazine, AgC10H9N4SO2, from the reaction of silver oxide and sulfadiazine? Carborundum is silicon carbide, SiC, a very hard material used as an abrasive on sandpaper and in other applications. It is prepared by the reaction of pure sand, SiO2, with carbon at high temperature. Carbon monoxide, CO, is the other product of this reaction. Write the balanced equation for the reaction, and calculate how much SiO2 is required to produce 3.00 kg of SiC. Automotive air bags inflate when a sample of sodium azide, NaN3, is very rapidly decomposed. What mass of sodium azide is required to produce 2.6 ft3 (73.6 L) of nitrogen gas with a density of 1.25 g/ L? Urea, CO(NH2)2, is manufactured on a large scale for use in producing urea-formaldehyde plastics and as a fertilizer. What is the maximum mass of urea that can be manufactured from the CO2 produced by combustion of of carbon followed by the reaction? In an accident, a solution containing 2.5 kg of nitric acid was spilled. Two kilograms of Na2CO3 was quickly spread on the area and CO2 was released by the reaction. Was sufficient Na2CO3 used to neutralize all of the acid? A compact car gets 37.5 miles per gallon on the highway. If gasoline contains 84.2% carbon by mass and has a density of 0.8205 g/mL, determine the mass of carbon dioxide produced during a 500-mile trip (3.785 liters per gallon). What volume of 0.750 M hydrochloric acid solution can be prepared from the HCl produced by the reaction of 25.0 g of NaCl with excess sulfuric acid? What volume of a 0.2089 M KI solution contains enough KI to react exactly with the Cu(NO3)2 in 43.88 mL of a 0.3842 M solution of Cu(NO3)2? A mordant is a substance that combines with a dye to produce a stable fixed color in a dyed fabric. Calcium acetate is used as a mordant. It is prepared by the reaction of acetic acid with calcium hydroxide. What mass of Ca(OH)2 is required to react with the acetic acid in 25.0 mL of a solution having a density of 1.065 g/mL and containing 58.0% acetic acid by mass? The toxic pigment called white lead, Pb3(OH)2(CO3)2, has been replaced in white paints by rutile, TiO2. How much rutile (g) can be prepared from 379 g of an ore that contains 88.3% ilmenite (FeTiO3) by mass? The following quantities are placed in a container: 1.5 1024 atoms of hydrogen, 1.0 mol of sulfur, and 88.0 g of diatomic oxygen. What is the total mass in grams for the collection of all three elements? What is the total number of moles of atoms for the three elements? If the mixture of the three elements formed a compound with molecules that contain two hydrogen atoms, one sulfur atom, and four oxygen atoms, which substance is consumed first? How many atoms of each remaining element would remain unreacted in the change described in (c)? What is the limiting reactant in a reaction that produces sodium chloride from 8 g of sodium and 8 g of diatomic chlorine? Which of the postulates of Dalton's atomic theory explains why we can calculate a theoretical yield for a chemical reaction? A student isolated 25 g of a compound following a procedure that would theoretically yield 81 g. What was his percent yield? A sample of 0.53 g of carbon dioxide was obtained by heating 1.31 g of calcium carbonate. What is the percent yield for this reaction? Freon-12, CCl2F2, is prepared from CCl4 by reaction with HF. The other product of this reaction is HCl. Outline the steps needed to determine the percent yield of a reaction that produces 12.5 g of CCl2F2 from 32.9 g of CCl4. Freon-12 has been banned and is no longer used as a refrigerant because it catalyzes the decomposition of ozone and has a very long lifetime in the atmosphere. Determine the percent yield. Citric acid, C6H8O7, a component of jams, jellies, and fruity soft drinks, is prepared industrially via fermentation of sucrose by the mold Aspergillus niger. The equation representing this reaction is What mass of citric acid is produced from exactly 1 metric ton (1.000 103 kg) of sucrose if the yield is 92.30%? Toluene, C6H5CH3, is oxidized by air under carefully controlled conditions to benzoic acid, C6H5CO2H, which is used to prepare the food preservative sodium benzoate, C6H5CO2Na. What is the percent yield of a reaction that converts 1.000 kg of toluene to 1.21 kg of benzoic acid? In a laboratory experiment, the reaction of 3.0 mol of H2 with 2.0 mol of I2 produced 1.0 mol of HI. Determine the theoretical yield in grams and the percent yield for this reaction. Outline the steps needed to solve the following problem, then do the calculations. Ether, (C2H5)2O, which was originally used as an anesthetic but has been replaced by safer and more effective medications, is prepared by the reaction of ethanol with sulfuric acid. 2C2H5OH + H2SO4 ⟶ (C2H5)2O + H2SO4·H2O What is the percent yield of ether if 1.17 L (d = 0.7134 g/mL) is isolated from the reaction of 1.500 L of C2H5OH (d = 0.7894 g/mL)? Outline the steps needed to determine the limiting reactant when 30.0 g of propane, C3H8, is burned with 75.0 g of oxygen. Determine the limiting reactant. Outline the steps needed to determine the limiting reactant when 0.50 mol of Cr and 0.75 mol of H3PO4 react according to the following chemical equation. Determine the limiting reactant. What is the limiting reactant when 1.50 g of lithium and 1.50 g of nitrogen combine to form lithium nitride, a component of advanced batteries, according to the following unbalanced equation? Uranium can be isolated from its ores by dissolving it as UO2(NO3)2, then separating it as solid UO2(C2O4)·3H2O. Addition of 0.4031 g of sodium oxalate, Na2C2O4, to a solution containing 1.481 g of uranyl nitrate, UO2(NO3)2, yields 1.073 g of solid UO2(C2O4)·3H2O. Na2C2O4 + UO2(NO3)2 + 3H2O ⟶ UO2(C2O4)·3H2O + 2NaNO3 Determine the limiting reactant and the percent yield of this reaction. How many molecules of C2H4Cl2 can be prepared from 15 C2H4 molecules and 8 Cl2 molecules? How many molecules of the sweetener saccharin can be prepared from 30 C atoms, 25 H atoms, 12 O atoms, 8 S atoms, and 14 N atoms? The phosphorus pentoxide used to produce phosphoric acid for cola soft drinks is prepared by burning phosphorus in oxygen. What is the limiting reactant when 0.200 mol of P4 and 0.200 mol of O2 react according to Calculate the percent yield if 10.0 g of P4O10 is isolated from the reaction.
What volume of 0.0105-M HBr solution is required to titrate 125 mL of a 0.0100-M Ca(OH)2 solution? Titration of a 20.0-mL sample of acid rain required 1.7 mL of 0.0811 M NaOH to reach the end point. If we assume that the acidity of the rain is due to the presence of sulfuric acid, what was the concentration of sulfuric acid in this sample of rain? What is the concentration of NaCl in a solution if titration of 15.00 mL of the solution with 0.2503 M AgNO3 requires 20.22 mL of the AgNO3 solution to reach the end point? In a common medical laboratory determination of the concentration of free chloride ion in blood serum, a serum sample is titrated with a Hg(NO3)2 solution. What is the Cl− concentration in a 0.25-mL sample of normal serum that requires 1.46 mL of 8.25 10−4 M Hg(NO3)2(aq) to reach the end point? Potatoes can be peeled commercially by soaking them in a 3-M to 6-M solution of sodium hydroxide, then removing the loosened skins by spraying them with water. Does a sodium hydroxide solution have a suitable concentration if titration of 12.00 mL of the solution requires 30.6 mL of 1.65 M HCI to reach the end point? A sample of gallium bromide, GaBr3, weighing 0.165 g was dissolved in water and treated with silver nitrate, AgNO3, resulting in the precipitation of 0.299 g AgBr. Use these data to compute the %Ga (by mass) GaBr3. The principal component of mothballs is naphthalene, a compound with a molecular mass of about 130 amu, containing only carbon and hydrogen. A 3.000-mg sample of naphthalene burns to give 10.3 mg of CO2. Determine its empirical and molecular formulas. A 0.025-g sample of a compound composed of boron and hydrogen, with a molecular mass of ~28 amu, burns spontaneously when exposed to air, producing 0.063 g of B2O3. What are the empirical and molecular formulas of the compound? Sodium bicarbonate (baking soda), NaHCO3, can be purified by dissolving it in hot water (60 °C), filtering to remove insoluble impurities, cooling to 0 °C to precipitate solid NaHCO3, and then filtering to remove the solid, leaving soluble impurities in solution. Any NaHCO3 that remains in solution is not recovered. The solubility of NaHCO3 in hot water of 60 °C is 164 g/L. Its solubility in cold water of 0 °C is 69 g/L. What is the percent yield of NaHCO3 when it is purified by this method? What volume of 0.600 M HCl is required to react completely with 2.50 g of sodium hydrogen carbonate? What volume of 0.08892 M HNO3 is required to react completely with 0.2352 g of potassium hydrogen phosphate? What volume of a 0.3300-M solution of sodium hydroxide would be required to titrate 15.00 mL of 0.1500 M oxalic acid? What volume of a 0.00945-M solution of potassium hydroxide would be required to titrate 50.00 mL of a sample of acid rain with a H2SO4 concentration of 1.23 10−4 M. A sample of solid calcium hydroxide, Ca(OH)2, is allowed to stand in water until a saturated solution is formed. A titration of 75.00 mL of this solution with 5.00 10−2 M HCl requires 36.6 mL of the acid to reach the end point. What is the molarity?
How many milliliters of a 0.1500-M solution of KOH will be required to titrate 40.00 mL of a 0.0656-M solution of H3PO4? Potassium hydrogen phthalate, KHC8H4O4, or KHP, is used in many laboratories, including general chemistry laboratories, to standardize solutions of base. KHP is one of only a few stable solid acids that can be dried by warming and weighed. A 0.3420-g sample of KHC8H4O4 reacts with 35.73 mL of a NaOH solution in a titration. What is the molar concentration of the NaOH? The reaction of WCl6 with Al at ~400 °C gives black crystals of a compound containing only tungsten and chlorine. A sample of this compound, when reduced with hydrogen, gives 0.2232 g of tungsten metal and hydrogen chloride, which is absorbed in water. Titration of the hydrochloric acid thus produced requires 46.2 mL of 0.1051 M NaOH to reach the end point. What is the empirical formula of the black tungsten chloride?
INTRODUCTION Chemical reactions, such as those that occur when you light a match, involve changes in energy as well as matter. Societies at all levels of development could not function without the energy released by chemical reactions. In 2012, about 85% of US energy consumption came from the combustion of petroleum products, coal, wood, and garbage. We use this energy to produce electricity (38%); to transport food, raw materials, manufactured goods, and people (27%); for industrial production (21%); and to heat and power our homes and businesses (10%). While these combustion reactions help us meet our essential energy needs, they are also recognized by the majority of the scientific community as a major contributor to global climate change. Useful forms of energy are also available from a variety of chemical reactions other than combustion. For example, the energy produced by the batteries in a cell phone, car, or flashlight results from chemical reactions. This chapter introduces many of the basic ideas necessary to explore the relationships between chemical changes and energy, with a focus on thermal energy. US Energy Information Administration, Primary Energy Consumption by Source and Sector, 2012, data/monthly/pdf/flow/css_2012_energy.pdf. Data derived from US Energy Information Administration, Monthly Energy Review (January 2014). Energy Basics LEARNING OBJECTIVES By the end of this section, you will be able to: Define energy, distinguish types of energy, and describe the nature of energy changes that accompany chemical and physical changes Distinguish the related properties of heat, thermal energy, and temperature Define and distinguish specific heat and heat capacity, and describe the physical implications of both Perform calculations involving heat, specific heat, and temperature change Chemical changes and their accompanying changes in energy are important parts of our everyday world (). The macronutrients in food (proteins, fats, and carbohydrates) undergo metabolic reactions that provide the energy to keep our bodies functioning. We burn a variety of fuels (gasoline, natural gas, coal) to produce energy for transportation, heating, and the generation of electricity. Industrial chemical reactions use enormous amounts of energy to produce raw materials (such as iron and aluminum). Energy is then used to manufacture those raw materials into useful products, such as cars, skyscrapers, and bridges. FIGURE 5.2 The energy involved in chemical changes is important to our daily lives: (a) A cheeseburger for lunch provides the energy you need to get through the rest of the day; (b) the combustion of gasoline provides the energy that moves your car (and you) between home, work, and school; and (c) coke, a processed form of coal, provides the energy needed to convert iron ore into iron, which is essential for making many of the products we use daily. (credit a: modification of work by “Pink Sherbet Photography”/Flickr; credit b: modification of work by Jeffery Turner) Over 90% of the energy we use comes originally from the sun. Every day, the sun provides the earth with almost 10,000 times the amount of energy necessary to meet all of the world’s energy needs for that day. Our challenge is to find ways to convert and store incoming solar energy so that it can be used in reactions or chemical processes that are both convenient and nonpolluting. Plants and many bacteria capture solar energy through photosynthesis. We release the energy stored in plants when we burn wood or plant products such as ethanol. We also use this energy to fuel our bodies by eating food that comes directly from plants or from animals that got their energy by eating plants. Burning coal and petroleum also releases stored solar energy: These fuels are fossilized plant and animal matter. This chapter will introduce the basic ideas of an important area of science concerned with the amount of heat absorbed or released during chemical and physical changes—an area called thermochemistry. The concepts introduced in this chapter are widely used in almost all scientific and technical fields. Food scientists use them to determine the energy content of foods. Biologists study the energetics of living organisms, such as the metabolic combustion of sugar into carbon dioxide and water. The oil, gas, and transportation industries, renewable energy providers, and many others endeavor to find better methods to produce energy for our commercial and personal needs. Engineers strive to improve energy efficiency, find better ways to heat and cool our homes, refrigerate our food and drinks, and meet the energy and cooling needs of computers and electronics, among other applications. Understanding thermochemical principles is essential for chemists, physicists, biologists, geologists, every type of engineer, and just about anyone who studies or does any kind of science. Energy Energy can be defined as the capacity to supply heat or do work. One type of work (w) is the process of causing matter to move against an opposing force. For example, we do work when we inflate a bicycle tire—we move matter (the air in the pump) against the opposing force of the air already in the tire. Like matter, energy comes in different types. One scheme classifies energy into two types: potential energy, the energy an object has because of its relative position, composition, or condition, and kinetic energy, the energy that an object possesses because of its motion. Water at the top of a waterfall or dam has potential energy because of its position; when it flows downward through generators, it has kinetic energy that can be used to do work and produce electricity in a hydroelectric plant (). A battery has potential energy because the chemicals within it can produce electricity that can do work. FIGURE 5.3 (a) Water at a higher elevation, for example, at the top of Victoria Falls, has a higher potential energy than water at a lower elevation. As the water falls, some of its potential energy is converted into kinetic energy. (b) If the water flows through generators at the bottom of a dam, such as the Hoover Dam shown here, its kinetic energy is converted into electrical energy. (credit a: modification of work by Steve Jurvetson; credit b: modification of work by “curimedia”/Wikimedia commons) Energy can be converted from one form into another, but all of the energy present before a change occurs always exists in some form after the change is completed. This observation is expressed in the law of conservation of energy: during a chemical or physical change, energy can be neither created nor destroyed, although it can be changed in form. (This is also one version of the first law of thermodynamics, as you will learn later.) When one substance is converted into another, there is always an associated conversion of one form of energy into another. Heat is usually released or absorbed, but sometimes the conversion involves light, electrical energy, or some other form of energy. For example, chemical energy (a type of potential energy) is stored in the molecules that compose gasoline. When gasoline is combusted within the cylinders of a car’s engine, the rapidly expanding gaseous products of this chemical reaction generate mechanical energy (a type of kinetic energy) when they move the cylinders’ pistons. According to the law of conservation of matter (seen in an earlier chapter), there is no detectable change in the total amount of matter during a chemical change. When chemical reactions occur, the energy changes are relatively modest and the mass changes are too small to measure, so the laws of conservation of matter and energy hold well. However, in nuclear reactions, the energy changes are much larger (by factors of a million or so), the mass changes are measurable, and matter-energy conversions are significant. This will be examined in more detail in a later chapter on nuclear chemistry. Thermal Energy, Temperature, and Heat Thermal energy is kinetic energy associated with the random motion of atoms and molecules. Temperature is a quantitative measure of “hot” or “cold.” When the atoms and molecules in an object are moving or vibrating quickly, they have a higher average kinetic energy (KE), and we say that the object is “hot.” When the atoms and molecules are moving slowly, they have lower average KE, and we say that the object is “cold” (). Assuming that no chemical reaction or phase change (such as melting or vaporizing) occurs, increasing the amount of thermal energy in a sample of matter will cause its temperature to increase. And, assuming that no chemical reaction or phase change (such as condensation or freezing) occurs, decreasing the amount of thermal energy in a sample of matter will cause its temperature to decrease. FIGURE 5.4 (a) The molecules in a sample of hot water move more rapidly than (b) those in a sample of cold water. LINK TO LEARNING Click on this to view the effects of temperature on molecular motion. Most substances expand as their temperature increases and contract as their temperature decreases. This property can be used to measure temperature changes, as shown in . The operation of many thermometers depends on the expansion and contraction of substances in response to temperature changes. FIGURE 5.5 (a) In an alcohol or mercury thermometer, the liquid (dyed red for visibility) expands when heated and contracts when cooled, much more so than the glass tube that contains the liquid. (b) In a bimetallic thermometer, two different metals (such as brass and steel) form a two-layered strip. When heated or cooled, one of the metals (brass) expands or contracts more than the other metal (steel), causing the strip to coil or uncoil. Both types of thermometers have a calibrated scale that indicates the temperature. (credit a: modification of work by “dwstucke”/Flickr)
Heat (q) is the transfer of thermal energy between two bodies at different temperatures. Heat flow (a redundant term, but one commonly used) increases the thermal energy of one body and decreases the thermal energy of the other. Suppose we initially have a high temperature (and high thermal energy) substance (H) and a low temperature (and low thermal energy) substance (L). The atoms and molecules in H have a higher average KE than those in L. If we place substance H in contact with substance L, the thermal energy will flow spontaneously from substance H to substance L. The temperature of substance H will decrease, as will the average KE of its molecules; the temperature of substance L will increase, along with the average KE of its molecules. Heat flow will continue until the two substances are at the same temperature (). FIGURE 5.6 (a) Substances H and L are initially at different temperatures, and their atoms have different average kinetic energies. (b) When they contact each other, collisions between the molecules result in the transfer of kinetic (thermal) energy from the hotter to the cooler matter. (c) The two objects reach “thermal equilibrium” when both substances are at the same temperature and their molecules have the same average kinetic energy. LINK TO LEARNING Click on the to explore energy forms and changes. Visit the Energy Systems tab to create combinations of energy sources, transformation methods, and outputs. Click on Energy Symbols to visualize the transfer of energy. Matter undergoing chemical reactions and physical changes can release or absorb heat. A change that releases heat is called an exothermic process. For example, the combustion reaction that occurs when using an oxyacetylene torch is an exothermic process—this process also releases energy in the form of light as evidenced by the torch’s flame (). A reaction or change that absorbs heat is an endothermic process. A cold pack used to treat muscle strains provides an example of an endothermic process. When the substances in the cold pack (water and a salt like ammonium nitrate) are brought together, the resulting process absorbs heat, leading to the sensation of cold. FIGURE 5.7 (a) An oxyacetylene torch produces heat by the combustion of acetylene in oxygen. The energy released by this exothermic reaction heats and then melts the metal being cut. The sparks are tiny bits of the molten metal flying away. (b) A cold pack uses an endothermic process to create the sensation of cold. (credit a: modification of work by “Skatebiker”/Wikimedia commons) Historically, energy was measured in units of calories (cal). A calorie is the amount of energy required to raise one gram of water by 1 degree C (1 kelvin). However, this quantity depends on the atmospheric pressure and the starting temperature of the water. The ease of measurement of energy changes in calories has meant that the calorie is still frequently used. The Calorie (with a capital C), or large calorie, commonly used in quantifying food energy content, is a kilocalorie. The SI unit of heat, work, and energy is the joule. A joule (J) is defined as the amount of energy used when a force of 1 newton moves an object 1 meter. It is named in honor of the English physicist James Prescott Joule. One joule is equivalent to 1 kg m2/s2, which is also called 1 newton–meter. A kilojoule (kJ) is 1000 joules. To standardize its definition, 1 calorie has been set to equal 4.184 joules. We now introduce two concepts useful in describing heat flow and temperature change. The heat capacity (C) of a body of matter is the quantity of heat (q) it absorbs or releases when it experiences a temperature change (ΔT) of 1 degree Celsius (or equivalently, 1 kelvin): Heat capacity is determined by both the type and amount of substance that absorbs or releases heat. It is therefore an extensive property—its value is proportional to the amount of the substance. For example, consider the heat capacities of two cast iron frying pans. The heat capacity of the large pan is five times greater than that of the small pan because, although both are made of the same material, the mass of the large pan is five times greater than the mass of the small pan. More mass means more atoms are present in the larger pan, so it takes more energy to make all of those atoms vibrate faster. The heat capacity of the small cast iron frying pan is found by observing that it takes 18,150 J of energy to raise the temperature of the pan by 50.0 °C: The larger cast iron frying pan, while made of the same substance, requires 90,700 J of energy to raise its temperature by 50.0 °C. The larger pan has a (proportionally) larger heat capacity because the larger amount of material requires a (proportionally) larger amount of energy to yield the same temperature change:
Specific heat capacity depends only on the kind of substance absorbing or releasing heat. It is an intensive property—the type, but not the amount, of the substance is all that matters. For example, the small cast iron frying pan has a mass of 808 g. The specific heat of iron (the material used to make the pan) is therefore:
Although the large pan is more massive than the small pan, since both are made of the same material, they both yield the same value for specific heat (for the material of construction, iron). Note that specific heat is measured in units of energy per temperature per mass and is an intensive property, being derived from a ratio of two extensive properties (heat and mass). The molar heat capacity, also an intensive property, is the heat capacity per mole of a particular substance and has units of J/mol °C (). FIGURE 5.8 Because of its larger mass, a large frying pan has a larger heat capacity than a small frying pan. Because they are made of the same material, both frying pans have the same specific heat. (credit: Mark Blaser) Water has a relatively high specific heat (about 4.2 J/g °C for the liquid and 2.09 J/g °C for the solid); most metals have much lower specific heats (usually less than 1 J/g °C). The specific heat of a substance varies somewhat with temperature. However, this variation is usually small enough that we will treat specific heat as constant over the range of temperatures that will be considered in this chapter. Specific heats of some common substances are listed in .
If we know the mass of a substance and its specific heat, we can determine the amount of heat, q, entering or leaving the substance by measuring the temperature change before and after the heat is gained or lost: In this equation, c is the specific heat of the substance, m is its mass, and ΔT (which is read “delta T”) is the temperature change, Tfinal − Tinitial. If a substance gains thermal energy, its temperature increases, its final temperature is higher than its initial temperature, Tfinal − Tinitial has a positive value, and the value of q is positive. If a substance loses thermal energy, its temperature decreases, the final temperature is lower than the initial temperature, Tfinal − Tinitial has a negative value, and the value of q is negative. Measuring Heat A flask containing 8.0 102 g of water is heated, and the temperature of the water increases from 21 °C to 85 °C. How much heat did the water absorb? Solution To answer this question, consider these factors: the specific heat of the substance being heated (in this case, water) the amount of substance being heated (in this case, 8.0 × 102 g) the magnitude of the temperature change (in this case, from 21 °C to 85 °C). The specific heat of water is 4.184 J/g °C, so to heat 1 g of water by 1 °C requires 4.184 J. We note that since 4.184 J is required to heat 1 g of water by 1 °C, we will need 800 times as much to heat 8.0 × 102 g of water by 1 °C. Finally, we observe that since 4.184 J are required to heat 1 g of water by 1 °C, we will need 64 times as much to heat it by 64 °C (that is, from 21 °C to 85 °C). This can be summarized using the equation: Because the temperature increased, the water absorbed heat and q is positive. Check Your Learning How much heat, in joules, must be added to a 502 g iron skillet to increase its temperature from 25 °C to 250 °C? The specific heat of iron is 0.449 J/g °C. Answer: 5.07 104 J
Determining Other Quantities A piece of unknown metal weighs 348 g. When the metal piece absorbs 6.64 kJ of heat, its temperature increases from 22.4 °C to 43.6 °C. Determine the specific heat of this metal (which might provide a clue to its identity). Solution Since mass, heat, and temperature change are known for this metal, we can determine its specific heat using the relationship:
Comparing this value with the values in , this value matches the specific heat of aluminum, which suggests that the unknown metal may be aluminum. Check Your Learning A piece of unknown metal weighs 217 g. When the metal piece absorbs 1.43 kJ of heat, its temperature increases from 24.5 °C to 39.1 °C. Determine the specific heat of this metal, and predict its identity. Answer: c = 0.451 J/g °C; the metal is likely to be iron Chemistry in Everyday Life Solar Thermal Energy Power Plants The sunlight that reaches the earth contains thousands of times more energy than we presently capture. Solar thermal systems provide one possible solution to the problem of converting energy from the sun into energy we can use. Large-scale solar thermal plants have different design specifics, but all concentrate sunlight to heat some substance; the heat “stored” in that substance is then converted into electricity. The Solana Generating Station in Arizona’s Sonora Desert produces 280 megawatts of electrical power. It uses parabolic mirrors that focus sunlight on pipes filled with a heat transfer fluid (HTF) (). The HTF then does two things: It turns water into steam, which spins turbines, which in turn produces electricity, and it melts and heats a mixture of salts, which functions as a thermal energy storage system. After the sun goes down, the molten salt mixture can then release enough of its stored heat to produce steam to run the turbines for 6 hours. Molten salts are used because they possess a number of beneficial properties, including high heat capacities and thermal conductivities. FIGURE 5.9 This solar thermal plant uses parabolic trough mirrors to concentrate sunlight. (credit a: modification of work by Bureau of Land Management) The 377-megawatt Ivanpah Solar Generating System, located in the Mojave Desert in California, is the largest solar thermal power plant in the world (). Its 170,000 mirrors focus huge amounts of sunlight on three water-filled towers, producing steam at over 538 °C that drives electricity-producing turbines. It produces enough energy to power 140,000 homes. Water is used as the working fluid because of its large heat capacity and heat of vaporization. Calorimetry LEARNING OBJECTIVES By the end of this section, you will be able to: Explain the technique of calorimetry Calculate and interpret heat and related properties using typical calorimetry data One technique we can use to measure the amount of heat involved in a chemical or physical process is known as calorimetry. Calorimetry is used to measure amounts of heat transferred to or from a substance. To do so, the heat is exchanged with a calibrated object (calorimeter). The temperature change measured by the calorimeter is used to derive the amount of heat transferred by the process under study. The measurement of heat transfer using this approach requires the definition of a system (the substance or substances undergoing the chemical or physical change) and its surroundings (all other matter, including components of the measurement apparatus, that serve to either provide heat to the system or absorb heat from the system). A calorimeter is a device used to measure the amount of heat involved in a chemical or physical process. For example, when an exothermic reaction occurs in solution in a calorimeter, the heat produced by the reaction is absorbed by the solution, which increases its temperature. When an endothermic reaction occurs, the heat required is absorbed from the thermal energy of the solution, which decreases its temperature (). The temperature change, along with the specific heat and mass of the solution, can then be used to calculate the amount of heat involved in either case. FIGURE 5.11 In a calorimetric determination, either (a) an exothermic process occurs and heat, q, is negative, indicating that thermal energy is transferred from the system to its surroundings, or (b) an endothermic process occurs and heat, q, is positive, indicating that thermal energy is transferred from the surroundings to the system. Calorimetry measurements are important in understanding the heat transferred in reactions involving everything from microscopic proteins to massive machines. During her time at the National Bureau of Standards, research chemist Reatha Clark King performed calorimetric experiments to understand the precise heats of various flourine compounds. Her work was important to NASA in their quest for better rocket fuels. Scientists use well-insulated calorimeters that all but prevent the transfer of heat between the calorimeter and its environment, which effectively limits the “surroundings” to the nonsystem components with the calorimeter (and the calorimeter itself). This enables the accurate determination of the heat involved in chemical processes, the energy content of foods, and so on. General chemistry students often use simple calorimeters constructed from polystyrene cups (). These easy-to-use “coffee cup” calorimeters allow more heat exchange with the outside environment, and therefore produce less accurate energy values. FIGURE 5.12 A simple calorimeter can be constructed from two polystyrene cups. A thermometer and stirrer extend through the cover into the reaction mixture. Commercial solution calorimeters are also available. Relatively inexpensive calorimeters often consist of two thin-walled cups that are nested in a way that minimizes thermal contact during use, along with an insulated cover, handheld stirrer, and simple thermometer. More expensive calorimeters used for industry and research typically have a well-insulated, fully enclosed reaction vessel, motorized stirring mechanism, and a more accurate temperature sensor (). FIGURE 5.13 Commercial solution calorimeters range from (a) simple, inexpensive models for student use to (b) expensive, more accurate models for industry and research. Before discussing the calorimetry of chemical reactions, consider a simpler example that illustrates the core idea behind calorimetry. Suppose we initially have a high-temperature substance, such as a hot piece of metal (M), and a low-temperature substance, such as cool water (W). If we place the metal in the water, heat will flow from M to W. The temperature of M will decrease, and the temperature of W will increase, until the two substances have the same temperature—that is, when they reach thermal equilibrium (). If this occurs in a calorimeter, ideally all of this heat transfer occurs between the two substances, with no heat gained or lost by either its external environment. Under these ideal circumstances, the net heat change is zero:
The magnitude of the heat (change) is therefore the same for both substances, and the negative sign merely shows that qsubstance M and qsubstance W are opposite in direction of heat flow (gain or loss) but does not indicate the arithmetic sign of either q value (that is determined by whether the matter in question gains or loses heat, per definition). In the specific situation described, qsubstance M is a negative value and qsubstance W is positive, since heat is transferred from M to W.
Heat Transfer between Substances at Different Temperatures A 360.0-g piece of rebar (a steel rod used for reinforcing concrete) is dropped into 425 mL of water at 24.0 °C. The final temperature of the water was measured as 42.7 °C. Calculate the initial temperature of the piece of rebar. Assume the specific heat of steel is approximately the same as that for iron (), and that all heat transfer occurs between the rebar and the water (there is no heat exchange with the surroundings). Solution The temperature of the water increases from 24.0 °C to 42.7 °C, so the water absorbs heat. That heat came from the piece of rebar, which initially was at a higher temperature. Assuming that all heat transfer was between the rebar and the water, with no heat “lost” to the outside environment, then heat given off by rebar = −heat taken in by water, or:
Solving this gives Ti,rebar= 248 °C, so the initial temperature of the rebar was 248 °C. Check Your Learning A 248-g piece of copper is dropped into 390 mL of water at 22.6 °C. The final temperature of the water was measured as 39.9 °C. Calculate the initial temperature of the piece of copper. Assume that all heat transfer occurs between the copper and the water. Answer: The initial temperature of the copper was 335.6 °C. Check Your Learning A 248-g piece of copper initially at 314 °C is dropped into 390 mL of water initially at 22.6 °C. Assuming that all heat transfer occurs between the copper and the water, calculate the final temperature. Answer: The final temperature (reached by both copper and water) is 38.7 °C.
Identifying a Metal by Measuring Specific Heat A 59.7 g piece of metal that had been submerged in boiling water was quickly transferred into 60.0 mL of water initially at 22.0 °C. The final temperature is 28.5 °C. Use these data to determine the specific heat of the metal. Use this result to identify the metal. Solution Assuming perfect heat transfer, heat given off by metal = −heat taken in by water, or:
Comparing this with values in , our experimental specific heat is closest to the value for copper (0.39 J/g °C), so we identify the metal as copper. Check Your Learning A 92.9-g piece of a silver/gray metal is heated to 178.0 °C, and then quickly transferred into 75.0 mL of water initially at 24.0 °C. After 5 minutes, both the metal and the water have reached the same temperature: 29.7 °C. Determine the specific heat and the identity of the metal. (Note: You should find that the specific heat is close to that of two different metals. Explain how you can confidently determine the identity of the metal). Answer: cmetal= 0.13 J/g °C This specific heat is close to that of either gold or lead. It would be difficult to determine which metal this was based solely on the numerical values. However, the observation that the metal is silver/gray in addition to the value for the specific heat indicates that the metal is lead.
been discussing apply. The amount of heat absorbed by the calorimeter is often small enough that we can neglect it (though not for highly accurate measurements, as discussed later), and the calorimeter minimizes energy exchange with the outside environment. Because energy is neither created nor destroyed during a chemical reaction, the heat produced or consumed in the reaction (the “system”), qreaction, plus the heat absorbed or lost by the solution (the “surroundings”), qsolution, must add up to zero:
Heat Produced by an Exothermic Reaction When 50.0 mL of 1.00 M HCl(aq) and 50.0 mL of 1.00 M NaOH(aq), both at 22.0 °C, are added to a coffee cup calorimeter, the temperature of the mixture reaches a maximum of 28.9 °C. What is the approximate amount of heat produced by this reaction? Solution To visualize what is going on, imagine that you could combine the two solutions so quickly that no reaction took place while they mixed; then after mixing, the reaction took place. At the instant of mixing, you have 100.0 mL of a mixture of HCl and NaOH at 22.0 °C. The HCl and NaOH then react until the solution temperature reaches 28.9 °C. The heat given off by the reaction is equal to that taken in by the solution. Therefore: (It is important to remember that this relationship only holds if the calorimeter does not absorb any heat from the reaction, and there is no heat exchange between the calorimeter and the outside environment.) Next, we know that the heat absorbed by the solution depends on its specific heat, mass, and temperature change: To proceed with this calculation, we need to make a few more reasonable assumptions or approximations. Since the solution is aqueous, we can proceed as if it were water in terms of its specific heat and mass values. The density of water is approximately 1.0 g/mL, so 100.0 mL has a mass of about 1.0 102 g (two significant figures). The specific heat of water is approximately 4.184 J/g °C, so we use that for the specific heat of the solution. Substituting these values gives:
The negative sign indicates that the reaction is exothermic. It produces 2.9 kJ of heat. Check Your Learning When 100 mL of 0.200 M NaCl(aq) and 100 mL of 0.200 M AgNO3(aq), both at 21.9 °C, are mixed in a coffee cup calorimeter, the temperature increases to 23.5 °C as solid AgCl forms. How much heat is produced by this precipitation reaction? What assumptions did you make to determine your value? Answer: 1.34 1.3 kJ; assume no heat is absorbed by the calorimeter, no heat is exchanged between the calorimeter and its surroundings, and that the specific heat and mass of the solution are the same as those for water Chemistry in Everyday Life Thermochemistry of Hand Warmers When working or playing outdoors on a cold day, you might use a hand warmer to warm your hands ( ). A common reusable hand warmer contains a supersaturated solution of NaC2H3O2 (sodium acetate) and a metal disc. Bending the disk creates nucleation sites around which the metastable NaC2H3O2 quickly crystallizes (a later chapter on solutions will investigate saturation and supersaturation in more detail). The process is exothermic, and the heat produced by this process is absorbed by your hands, thereby warming them (at least for a while). If the hand warmer is reheated, the NaC2H3O2 redissolves and can be reused. FIGURE 5.15 Chemical hand warmers produce heat that warms your hand on a cold day. In this one, you can see the metal disc that initiates the exothermic precipitation reaction. (credit: modification of work by Science Buddies TV/YouTube) Another common hand warmer produces heat when it is ripped open, exposing iron and water in the hand warmer to oxygen in the air. One simplified version of this exothermic reaction is Salt in the hand warmer catalyzes the reaction, so it produces heat more rapidly; cellulose, vermiculite, and activated carbon help distribute the heat evenly. Other types of hand warmers use lighter fluid (a platinum catalyst helps lighter fluid oxidize exothermically), charcoal (charcoal oxidizes in a special case), or electrical units that produce heat by passing an electrical current from a battery through resistive wires.
Heat Flow in an Instant Ice Pack When solid ammonium nitrate dissolves in water, the solution becomes cold. This is the basis for an “instant ice pack” (). When 3.21 g of solid NH4NO3 dissolves in 50.0 g of water at 24.9 °C in a calorimeter, the temperature decreases to 20.3 °C. Calculate the value of q for this reaction and explain the meaning of its arithmetic sign. State any assumptions that you made. FIGURE 5.16 An instant cold pack consists of a bag containing solid ammonium nitrate and a second bag of water. When the bag of water is broken, the pack becomes cold because the dissolution of ammonium nitrate is an endothermic process that removes thermal energy from the water. The cold pack then removes thermal energy from your body. Solution We assume that the calorimeter prevents heat transfer between the solution and its external environment (including the calorimeter itself), in which case:
The positive sign for q indicates that the dissolution is an endothermic process. Check Your Learning When a 3.00-g sample of KCl was added to 3.00 102 g of water in a coffee cup calorimeter, the temperature decreased by 1.05 °C. How much heat is involved in the dissolution of the KCl? What assumptions did you make? Answer: 1.33 kJ; assume that the calorimeter prevents heat transfer between the solution and its external environment (including the calorimeter itself) and that the specific heat of the solution is the same as that for water If the amount of heat absorbed by a calorimeter is too large to neglect or if we require more accurate results, then we must take into account the heat absorbed both by the solution and by the calorimeter. The calorimeters described are designed to operate at constant (atmospheric) pressure and are convenient to measure heat flow accompanying processes that occur in solution. A different type of calorimeter that operates at constant volume, colloquially known as a bomb calorimeter, is used to measure the energy produced by reactions that yield large amounts of heat and gaseous products, such as combustion reactions. (The term “bomb” comes from the observation that these reactions can be vigorous enough to resemble explosions that would damage other calorimeters.) This type of calorimeter consists of a robust steel container (the “bomb”) that contains the reactants and is itself submerged in water (). The sample is placed in the bomb, which is then filled with oxygen at high pressure. A small electrical spark is used to ignite the sample. The energy produced by the reaction is absorbed by the steel bomb and the surrounding water. The temperature increase is measured and, along with the known heat capacity of the calorimeter, is used to calculate the energy produced by the reaction. Bomb calorimeters require calibration to determine the heat capacity of the calorimeter and ensure accurate results. The calibration is accomplished using a reaction with a known q, such as a measured quantity of benzoic acid ignited by a spark from a nickel fuse wire that is weighed before and after the reaction. The temperature change produced by the known reaction is used to determine the heat capacity of the calorimeter. The calibration is generally performed each time before the calorimeter is used to gather research data. FIGURE 5.17 (a) A bomb calorimeter is used to measure heat produced by reactions involving gaseous reactants or products, such as combustion. (b) The reactants are contained in the gas-tight “bomb,” which is submerged in water and surrounded by insulating materials. (credit a: modification of work by “Harbor1”/Wikimedia commons) LINK TO LEARNING Click on this to view how a bomb calorimeter is prepared for action. This shows calorimetric calculations using sample data. Bomb Calorimetry When 3.12 g of glucose, C6H12O6, is burned in a bomb calorimeter, the temperature of the calorimeter increases from 23.8 °C to 35.6 °C. The calorimeter contains 775 g of water, and the bomb itself has a heat capacity of 893 J/°C. How much heat was produced by the combustion of the glucose sample? Solution The combustion produces heat that is primarily absorbed by the water and the bomb. (The amounts of heat absorbed by the reaction products and the unreacted excess oxygen are relatively small and dealing with them is beyond the scope of this text. We will neglect them in our calculations.) The heat produced by the reaction is absorbed by the water and the bomb: This reaction released 48.7 kJ of heat when 3.12 g of glucose was burned. Check Your Learning When 0.963 g of benzene, C6H6, is burned in a bomb calorimeter, the temperature of the calorimeter increases by 8.39 °C. The bomb has a heat capacity of 784 J/°C and is submerged in 925 mL of water. How much heat was produced by the combustion of the benzene sample? Answer: qrx = –39.0 kJ (the reaction produced 39.0 kJ of heat) Since the first one was constructed in 1899, 35 calorimeters have been built to measure the heat produced by a living person. These whole-body calorimeters of various designs are large enough to hold an individual human being. More recently, whole-room calorimeters allow for relatively normal activities to be performed, and these calorimeters generate data that more closely reflect the real world. These calorimeters are used to measure the metabolism of individuals under different environmental conditions, different dietary regimes, and with different health conditions, such as diabetes. For example Carla Prado's team at University of Alberta undertook whole-body calorimetry to understand the energy expenditures of women who had recently given birth. Studies like this help develop better recommendations and regimens for nutrition, exercise, and general wellbeing during this period of significant physiological change. In humans, metabolism is typically measured in Calories per day. A nutritional calorie (Calorie) is the energy unit used to quantify the amount of energy derived from the metabolism of foods; one Calorie is equal to 1000 calories (1 kcal), the amount of energy needed to heat 1 kg of water by 1 °C. Francis D. Reardon et al. “The Snellen human calorimeter revisited, re-engineered and upgraded: Design and performance characteristics.” Medical and Biological Engineering and Computing 8 (2006)721–28, s11517-006-0086-5. FIGURE 5.18 (a) Macaroni and cheese contain energy in the form of the macronutrients in the food. (b) The food’s nutritional information is shown on the package label. In the US, the energy content is given in Calories (per serving); the rest of the world usually uses kilojoules. (credit a: modification of work by “Rex Roof”/Flickr) For the example shown in (b), the total energy per 228-g portion is calculated by: So, you can use food labels to count your Calories. But where do the values come from? And how accurate are they? The caloric content of foods can be determined by using bomb calorimetry; that is, by burning the food and measuring the energy it contains. A sample of food is weighed, mixed in a blender, freeze- dried, ground into powder, and formed into a pellet. The pellet is burned inside a bomb calorimeter, and the measured temperature change is converted into energy per gram of food. Today, the caloric content on food labels is derived using a method called the Atwater system that uses the average caloric content of the different chemical constituents of food, protein, carbohydrate, and fats. The average amounts are those given in the equation and are derived from the various results given by bomb calorimetry of whole foods. The carbohydrate amount is discounted a certain amount for the fiber content, which is indigestible carbohydrate. To determine the energy content of a food, the quantities of carbohydrate, protein, and fat are each multiplied by the average Calories per gram for each and the products summed to obtain the total energy.
Enthalpy LEARNING OBJECTIVES By the end of this section, you will be able to: State the first law of thermodynamics Define enthalpy and explain its classification as a state function Write and balance thermochemical equations Calculate enthalpy changes for various chemical reactions Explain Hess’s law and use it to compute reaction enthalpies Thermochemistry is a branch of chemical thermodynamics, the science that deals with the relationships between heat, work, and other forms of energy in the context of chemical and physical processes. As we concentrate on thermochemistry in this chapter, we need to consider some widely used concepts of thermodynamics. Substances act as reservoirs of energy, meaning that energy can be added to them or removed from them. Energy is stored in a substance when the kinetic energy of its atoms or molecules is raised. The greater kinetic energy may be in the form of increased translations (travel or straight-line motions), vibrations, or rotations of the atoms or molecules. When thermal energy is lost, the intensities of these motions decrease and the kinetic energy falls. The total of all possible kinds of energy present in a substance is called the internal energy (U), sometimes symbolized as E. As a system undergoes a change, its internal energy can change, and energy can be transferred from the system to the surroundings, or from the surroundings to the system. Energy is transferred into a system when it absorbs heat (q) from the surroundings or when the surroundings do work (w) on the system. For example, energy is transferred into room-temperature metal wire if it is immersed in hot water (the wire absorbs heat from the water), or if you rapidly bend the wire back and forth (the wire becomes warmer because of the work done on it). Both processes increase the internal energy of the wire, which is reflected in an increase in the wire’s temperature. Conversely, energy is transferred out of a system when heat is lost from the system, or when the system does work on the surroundings. The relationship between internal energy, heat, and work can be represented by the equation: as shown in . This is one version of the first law of thermodynamics, and it shows that the internal energy of a system changes through heat flow into or out of the system (positive q is heat flow in; negative q is heat flow out) or work done on or by the system. The work, w, is positive if it is done on the system and negative if it is done by the system. FIGURE 5.19 The internal energy, U, of a system can be changed by heat flow and work. If heat flows into the system, qin, or work is done on the system, won, its internal energy increases, ΔU > 0. If heat flows out of the system, qout, or work is done by the system, wby, its internal energy decreases, ΔU < 0. A type of work called expansion work (or pressure-volume work) occurs when a system pushes back the surroundings against a restraining pressure, or when the surroundings compress the system. An example of this occurs during the operation of an internal combustion engine. The reaction of gasoline and oxygen is exothermic. Some of this energy is given off as heat, and some does work pushing the piston in the cylinder. The substances involved in the reaction are the system, and the engine and the rest of the universe are the surroundings. The system loses energy by both heating and doing work on the surroundings, and its internal energy decreases. (The engine is able to keep the car moving because this process is repeated many times per second while the engine is running.) We will consider how to determine the amount of work involved in a chemical or physical change in the chapter on thermodynamics. LINK TO LEARNING This view of illustrates the conversion of energy produced by the exothermic combustion reaction of a fuel such as gasoline into energy of motion. As discussed, the relationship between internal energy, heat, and work can be represented as ΔU = q + w. Internal energy is an example of a state function (or state variable), whereas heat and work are not state functions. The value of a state function depends only on the state that a system is in, and not on how that state is reached. If a quantity is not a state function, then its value does depend on how the state is reached. An example of a state function is altitude or elevation. If you stand on the summit of Mt. Kilimanjaro, you are at an altitude of 5895 m, and it does not matter whether you hiked there or parachuted there. The distance you traveled to the top of Kilimanjaro, however, is not a state function. You could climb to the summit by a direct route or by a more roundabout, circuitous path (). The distances traveled would differ (distance is not a state function) but the elevation reached would be the same (altitude is a state function). FIGURE 5.20 Paths X and Y represent two different routes to the summit of Mt. Kilimanjaro. Both have the same change in elevation (altitude or elevation on a mountain is a state function; it does not depend on path), but they have very different distances traveled (distance walked is not a state function; it depends on the path). (credit: modification of work by Paul Shaffner) Chemists ordinarily use a property known as enthalpy (H) to describe the thermodynamics of chemical and physical processes. Enthalpy is defined as the sum of a system’s internal energy (U) and the mathematical product of its pressure (P) and volume (V): Enthalpy is also a state function. Enthalpy values for specific substances cannot be measured directly; only enthalpy changes for chemical or physical processes can be determined. For processes that take place at constant pressure (a common condition for many chemical and physical changes), the enthalpy change (ΔH) is:
where qp is the heat of reaction under conditions of constant pressure. And so, if a chemical or physical process is carried out at constant pressure with the only work done caused by expansion or contraction, then the heat flow (qp) and enthalpy change (ΔH) for the process are equal. The heat given off when you operate a Bunsen burner is equal to the enthalpy change of the methane combustion reaction that takes place, since it occurs at the essentially constant pressure of the atmosphere. On the other hand, the heat produced by a reaction measured in a bomb calorimeter () is not equal to ΔH because the closed, constant-volume metal container prevents the pressure from remaining constant (it may increase or decrease if the reaction yields increased or decreased amounts of gaseous species). Chemists usually perform experiments under normal atmospheric conditions, at constant external pressure with q = ΔH, which makes enthalpy the most convenient choice for determining heat changes for chemical reactions. The following conventions apply when using ΔH: A negative value of an enthalpy change, ΔH < 0, indicates an exothermic reaction; a positive value, ΔH > 0, indicates an endothermic reaction. If the direction of a chemical equation is reversed, the arithmetic sign of its ΔH is changed (a process that is endothermic in one direction is exothermic in the opposite direction). Chemists use a thermochemical equation to represent the changes in both matter and energy. In a thermochemical equation, the enthalpy change of a reaction is shown as a ΔH value following the equation for the reaction. This ΔH value indicates the amount of heat associated with the reaction involving the number of moles of reactants and products as shown in the chemical equation. For example, consider this equation: This equation indicates that when 1 mole of hydrogen gas and mole of oxygen gas at some temperature and pressure change to 1 mole of liquid water at the same temperature and pressure, 286 kJ of heat are released to the surroundings. If the coefficients of the chemical equation are multiplied by some factor, the enthalpy change must be multiplied by that same factor (ΔH is an extensive property): The enthalpy change of a reaction depends on the physical states of the reactants and products, so these must be shown. For example, when 1 mole of hydrogen gas and mole of oxygen gas change to 1 mole of liquid water at the same temperature and pressure, 286 kJ of heat are released. If gaseous water forms, only 242 kJ of heat are released. Writing Thermochemical Equations When 0.0500 mol of HCl(aq) reacts with 0.0500 mol of NaOH(aq) to form 0.0500 mol of NaCl(aq), 2.9 kJ of heat are produced. Write a balanced thermochemical equation for the reaction of one mole of HCl. Solution For the reaction of 0.0500 mol acid (HCl), q = −2.9 kJ. The reactants are provided in stoichiometric amounts (same molar ratio as in the balanced equation), and so the amount of acid may be used to calculate a molar enthalpy change. Since ΔH is an extensive property, it is proportional to the amount of acid neutralized:
Writing Thermochemical Equations A gummy bear contains 2.67 g sucrose, C12H22O11. When it reacts with 7.19 g potassium chlorate, KClO3, 43.7 kJ of heat are produced. Write a thermochemical equation for the reaction of one mole of sucrose: Solution Unlike the previous example exercise, this one does not involve the reaction of stoichiometric amounts of reactants, and so the limiting reactant must be identified (it limits the yield of the reaction and the amount of thermal energy produced or consumed). The provided amounts of the two reactants are
The balanced equation indicates 8 mol KClO3 are required for reaction with 1 mol C12H22O11. Since the provided amount of KClO3 is less than the stoichiometric amount, it is the limiting reactant and may be used to compute the enthalpy change:
Check Your Learning When 1.42 g of iron reacts with 1.80 g of chlorine, 3.22 g of FeCl2(s) and 8.60 kJ of heat is produced. What is the enthalpy change for the reaction when 1 mole of FeCl2(s) is produced? Answer: ΔH = −338 kJ Enthalpy changes are typically tabulated for reactions in which both the reactants and products are at the same conditions. A standard state is a commonly accepted set of conditions used as a reference point for the determination of properties under other different conditions. For chemists, the IUPAC standard state refers to materials under a pressure of 1 bar and solutions at 1 M, and does not specify a temperature. Many thermochemical tables list values with a standard state of 1 atm. Because the ΔH of a reaction changes very little with such small changes in pressure (1 bar = 0.987 atm), ΔH values (except for the most precisely measured values) are essentially the same under both sets of standard conditions. We will include a superscripted “o” in the enthalpy change symbol to designate standard state. Since the usual (but not technically standard) temperature is 298.15 K, this temperature will be assumed unless some other temperature is specified. Thus, the symbol is used to indicate an enthalpy change for a process occurring under these conditions. (The symbol ΔH is used to indicate an enthalpy change for a reaction occurring under nonstandard conditions.) The enthalpy changes for many types of chemical and physical processes are available in the reference literature, including those for combustion reactions, phase transitions, and formation reactions. As we discuss these quantities, it is important to pay attention to the extensive nature of enthalpy and enthalpy changes. Since the enthalpy change for a given reaction is proportional to the amounts of substances involved, it may be reported on that basis (i.e., as the ΔH for specific amounts of reactants). However, we often find it more useful to divide one extensive property (ΔH) by another (amount of substance), and report a per-amount intensive value of ΔH, often “normalized” to a per-mole basis. (Note that this is similar to determining the intensive property specific heat from the extensive property heat capacity, as seen previously.) Standard Enthalpy of Combustion Standard enthalpy of combustion is the enthalpy change when 1 mole of a substance burns (combines vigorously with oxygen) under standard state conditions; it is sometimes called “heat of combustion.” For example, the enthalpy of combustion of ethanol, −1366.8 kJ/mol, is the amount of heat produced when one mole of ethanol undergoes complete combustion at 25 °C and 1 atmosphere pressure, yielding products also at 25 °C and 1 atm. Enthalpies of combustion for many substances have been measured; a few of these are listed in . Many readily available substances with large enthalpies of combustion are used as fuels, including hydrogen, carbon (as coal or charcoal), and hydrocarbons (compounds containing only hydrogen and carbon), such as methane, propane, and the major components of gasoline.
Using Enthalpy of Combustion As suggests, the combustion of gasoline is a highly exothermic process. Let us determine the approximate amount of heat produced by burning 1.00 L of gasoline, assuming the enthalpy of combustion of gasoline is the same as that of isooctane, a common component of gasoline. The density of isooctane is 0.692 g/mL. FIGURE 5.21 The combustion of gasoline is very exothermic. (credit: modification of work by “AlexEagle”/Flickr) Solution Starting with a known amount (1.00 L of isooctane), we can perform conversions between units until we arrive at the desired amount of heat or energy. The enthalpy of combustion of isooctane provides one of the
The combustion of 1.00 L of isooctane produces 33,100 kJ of heat. (This amount of energy is enough to melt 99.2 kg, or about 218 lbs, of ice.) Note: If you do this calculation one step at a time, you would find:
Chemistry in Everyday Life Emerging Algae-Based Energy Technologies (Biofuels) As reserves of fossil fuels diminish and become more costly to extract, the search is ongoing for replacement fuel sources for the future. Among the most promising biofuels are those derived from algae (). The species of algae used are nontoxic, biodegradable, and among the world’s fastest growing organisms. About 50% of algal weight is oil, which can be readily converted into fuel such as biodiesel. Algae can yield 26,000 gallons of biofuel per hectare—much more energy per acre than other crops. Some strains of algae can flourish in brackish water that is not usable for growing other crops. Algae can produce biodiesel, biogasoline, ethanol, butanol, methane, and even jet fuel. FIGURE 5.22 (a) Tiny algal organisms can be (b) grown in large quantities and eventually (c) turned into a useful fuel such as biodiesel. (credit a: modification of work by Micah Sittig; credit b: modification of work by Robert Kerton; credit c: modification of work by John F. Williams)
Standard Enthalpy of Formation A standard enthalpy of formation is an enthalpy change for a reaction in which exactly 1 mole of a pure substance is formed from free elements in their most stable states under standard state conditions. These values are especially useful for computing or predicting enthalpy changes for chemical reactions that are impractical or dangerous to carry out, or for processes for which it is difficult to make measurements. If we have values for the appropriate standard enthalpies of formation, we can determine the enthalpy change for any reaction, which we will practice in the next section on Hess’s law. The standard enthalpy of formation of CO2(g) is −393.5 kJ/mol. This is the enthalpy change for the exothermic reaction: starting with the reactants at a pressure of 1 atm and 25 °C (with the carbon present as graphite, the most stable form of carbon under these conditions) and ending with one mole of CO2, also at 1 atm and 25 °C. For nitrogen dioxide, NO2(g), is 33.2 kJ/mol. This is the enthalpy change for the reaction: A reaction equation with mole of N2 and 1 mole of O2 is correct in this case because the standard enthalpy of formation always refers to 1 mole of product, NO2(g). You will find a table of standard enthalpies of formation of many common substances in . These values indicate that formation reactions range from highly exothermic (such as −2984 kJ/mol for the formation of P4O10) to strongly endothermic (such as +226.7 kJ/mol for the formation of acetylene, C2H2). By definition, the standard enthalpy of formation of an element in its most stable form is equal to zero under
Evaluating an Enthalpy of Formation Ozone, O3(g), forms from oxygen, O2(g), by an endothermic process. Ultraviolet radiation is the source of the energy that drives this reaction in the upper atmosphere. Assuming that both the reactants and products of the reaction are in their standard states, determine the standard enthalpy of formation, of ozone from the following information: Solution is the enthalpy change for the formation of one mole of a substance in its standard state from the elements in their standard states. Thus, for O3(g) is the enthalpy change for the reaction:
Therefore, Check Your Learning Hydrogen gas, H2, reacts explosively with gaseous chlorine, Cl2, to form hydrogen chloride, HCl(g). What is the enthalpy change for the reaction of 1 mole of H2(g) with 1 mole of Cl2(g) if both the reactants and products are at standard state conditions? The standard enthalpy of formation of HCl(g) is −92.3 kJ/mol. Answer: For the reaction Writing Reaction Equations for Write the heat of formation reaction equations for: (a) C2H5OH(l) (b) Ca3(PO4)2(s) Solution Remembering that reaction equations are for forming 1 mole of the compound from its constituent elements under standard conditions, we have: (a)
Hess’s Law There are two ways to determine the amount of heat involved in a chemical change: measure it experimentally, or calculate it from other experimentally determined enthalpy changes. Some reactions are difficult, if not impossible, to investigate and make accurate measurements for experimentally. And even when a reaction is not hard to perform or measure, it is convenient to be able to determine the heat involved in a reaction without having to perform an experiment. This type of calculation usually involves the use of Hess’s law, which states: If a process can be written as the sum of several stepwise processes, the enthalpy change of the total process equals the sum of the enthalpy changes of the various steps. Hess’s law is valid because enthalpy is a state function: Enthalpy changes depend only on where a chemical process starts and ends, but not on the path it takes from start to finish. For example, we can think of the reaction of carbon with oxygen to form carbon dioxide as occurring either directly or by a two-step process. The direct process is written:
The result is shown in . We see that ΔH of the overall reaction is the same whether it occurs in one step or two. This finding (overall ΔH for the reaction = sum of ΔH values for reaction “steps” in the overall reaction) is true in general for chemical and physical processes. FIGURE 5.24 The formation of CO2(g) from its elements can be thought of as occurring in two steps, which sum to the overall reaction, as described by Hess’s law. The horizontal blue lines represent enthalpies. For an exothermic process, the products are at lower enthalpy than are the reactants. Before we further practice using Hess’s law, let us recall two important features of ΔH. ΔH is directly proportional to the quantities of reactants or products. For example, the enthalpy change for the reaction forming 1 mole of NO2(g) is +33.2 kJ:
In general, if we multiply or divide an equation by a number, then the enthalpy change should also be multiplied or divided by the same number. ΔH for a reaction in one direction is equal in magnitude and opposite in sign to ΔH for the reaction in the reverse direction. For example, given that:
Here is a less straightforward example that illustrates the thought process involved in solving many Hess’s law problems. It shows how we can find many standard enthalpies of formation (and other values of ΔH) if they are difficult to determine experimentally. A More Challenging Problem Using Hess’s Law Chlorine monofluoride can react with fluorine to form chlorine trifluoride: (i) Use the reactions here to determine the ΔH° for reaction (i): (ii) (iii) (iv) Solution Our goal is to manipulate and combine reactions (ii), (iii), and (iv) such that they add up to reaction (i). Going from left to right in (i), we first see that ClF(g) is needed as a reactant. This can be obtained by multiplying reaction (iii) by which means that the ΔH° change is also multiplied by
Reactants and cancel out product O2; product cancels reactant and reactant is cancelled by products and OF2. This leaves only reactants ClF(g) and F2(g) and product ClF3(g), which are what we want. Since summing these three modified reactions yields the reaction of interest, summing the three modified ΔH° values will give the desired ΔH°:
We also can use Hess’s law to determine the enthalpy change of any reaction if the corresponding enthalpies of formation of the reactants and products are available. The stepwise reactions we consider are: (i) decompositions of the reactants into their component elements (for which the enthalpy changes are proportional to the negative of the enthalpies of formation of the reactants), followed by (ii) re-combinations of the elements to give the products (with the enthalpy changes proportional to the enthalpies of formation of the products). The standard enthalpy change of the overall reaction is therefore equal to: (ii) the sum of the standard enthalpies of formation of all the products plus (i) the sum of the negatives of the standard enthalpies of formation of the reactants. This is usually rearranged slightly to be written as follows, with ∑ representing “the sum of” and n standing for the stoichiometric coefficients:
Solution: Supporting Why the General Equation Is Valid Alternatively, we can write this reaction as the sum of the decompositions of 3NO2(g) and 1H2O(l) into their constituent elements, and the formation of 2HNO3(aq) and 1NO(g) from their constituent elements. Writing out these reactions, and noting their relationships to the values for these compounds (from ), we have:
So the standard enthalpy change for this reaction is ΔH° = −138.4 kJ. Note that this result was obtained by (1) multiplying the of each product by its stoichiometric coefficient and summing those values, (2) multiplying the of each reactant by its stoichiometric coefficient and summing those values, and then (3) subtracting the result found in (2) from the result found in (1). This is also the procedure in using the general equation, as shown. Check Your Learning Calculate the heat of combustion of 1 mole of ethanol, C2H5OH(l), when H2O(l) and CO2(g) are formed. Use the following enthalpies of formation: C2H5OH(l), −278 kJ/mol; H2O(l), −286 kJ/mol; and CO2(g), −394 kJ/mol. Answer: −1368 kJ/mol Key Terms bomb calorimeter device designed to measure the energy change for processes occurring under conditions of constant volume; commonly used for reactions involving solid and gaseous reactants or products calorie (cal) unit of heat or other energy; the amount of energy required to raise 1 gram of water by 1 degree Celsius; 1 cal is defined as 4.184 J calorimeter device used to measure the amount of heat absorbed or released in a chemical or physical process calorimetry process of measuring the amount of heat involved in a chemical or physical process chemical thermodynamics area of science that deals with the relationships between heat, work, and all forms of energy associated with chemical and physical processes endothermic process chemical reaction or physical change that absorbs heat energy capacity to supply heat or do work enthalpy (H) sum of a system’s internal energy and the mathematical product of its pressure and volume enthalpy change (ΔH) heat released or absorbed by a system under constant pressure during a chemical or physical process exothermic process chemical reaction or physical change that releases heat expansion work (pressure-volume work) work done as a system expands or contracts against external pressure first law of thermodynamics internal energy of a system changes due to heat flow in or out of the system or work done on or by the system heat (q) transfer of thermal energy between two bodies heat capacity (C) extensive property of a body of matter that represents the quantity of heat required to increase its temperature by 1 degree Celsius (or 1 kelvin) Hess’s law if a process can be represented as the sum of several steps, the enthalpy change of the process equals the sum of the enthalpy changes of the steps hydrocarbon compound composed only of hydrogen and carbon; the major component of fossil fuels internal energy (U) total of all possible kinds of energy present in a substance or substances joule (J) SI unit of energy; 1 joule is the kinetic energy of an object with a mass of 2 kilograms moving with a velocity of 1 meter per second, 1 J = 1 kg m2/s and 4.184 J = 1 cal kinetic energy energy of a moving body, in joules, equal to (where m = mass and v = velocity) nutritional calorie (Calorie) unit used for quantifying energy provided by digestion of foods, defined as 1000 cal or 1 kcal potential energy energy of a particle or system of particles derived from relative position, composition, or condition specific heat capacity (c) intensive property of a substance that represents the quantity of heat required to raise the temperature of 1 gram of the substance by 1 degree Celsius (or 1 kelvin) standard enthalpy of combustion heat released when one mole of a compound undergoes complete combustion under standard conditions standard enthalpy of formation enthalpy change of a chemical reaction in which 1 mole of a pure substance is formed from its elements in their most stable states under standard state conditions standard state set of physical conditions as accepted as common reference conditions for reporting thermodynamic properties; 1 bar of pressure, and solutions at 1 molar concentrations, usually at a temperature of 298.15 K state function property depending only on the state of a system, and not the path taken to reach that state surroundings all matter other than the system being studied system portion of matter undergoing a chemical or physical change being studied temperature intensive property of matter that is a quantitative measure of “hotness” and “coldness” thermal energy kinetic energy associated with the random motion of atoms and molecules thermochemistry study of measuring the amount of heat absorbed or released during a chemical reaction or a physical change work (w) energy transfer due to changes in external, macroscopic variables such as pressure and volume; or causing matter to move against an opposing force
Energy is the capacity to supply heat or do work (applying a force to move matter). Kinetic energy (KE) is the energy of motion; potential energy is energy due to relative position, composition, or condition. When energy is converted from one form into another, energy is neither created nor destroyed (law of conservation of energy or first law of thermodynamics). The thermal energy of matter is due to the kinetic energies of its constituent atoms or molecules. Temperature is an intensive property of matter reflecting hotness or coldness that increases as the average kinetic energy increases. Heat is the transfer of thermal energy between objects at different temperatures. Chemical and physical processes can absorb heat (endothermic) or release heat (exothermic). The SI unit of energy, heat, and work is the joule (J). Specific heat and heat capacity are measures of the energy needed to change the temperature of a substance or object. The amount of heat absorbed or released by a substance depends directly on the type of substance, its mass, and the temperature change it undergoes.
and the masses of the system and surroundings. These measured quantities are then used to compute the amount of heat produced or consumed in the process using known mathematical relations. Calorimeters are designed to minimize energy exchange between their contents and the external environment. They range from simple coffee cup calorimeters used by introductory chemistry students to sophisticated bomb calorimeters used to determine the energy content of food. If a chemical change is carried out at constant pressure and the only work done is caused by expansion or contraction, q for the change is called the enthalpy change with the symbol ΔH, or for reactions occurring under standard state conditions at 298 K. The value of ΔH for a reaction in one direction is equal in magnitude, but opposite in sign, to ΔH for the reaction in the opposite direction, and ΔH is directly proportional to the quantity of reactants and products. The standard enthalpy of formation, is the enthalpy change accompanying the formation of 1 mole of a substance from the elements in their most stable states at 1 bar and 298.15 K. If the enthalpies of formation are available for the reactants and products of a reaction, the enthalpy change can be calculated using Hess’s law: If a process can be written as the sum of several stepwise processes, the enthalpy change of the total process equals the sum of the enthalpy changes of the various steps. A burning match and a bonfire may have the same temperature, yet you would not sit around a burning match on a fall evening to stay warm. Why not? Prepare a table identifying several energy transitions that take place during the typical operation of an automobile. Explain the difference between heat capacity and specific heat of a substance. Calculate the heat capacity, in joules and in calories per degree, of the following: 28.4 g of water 1.00 oz of lead Calculate the heat capacity, in joules and in calories per degree, of the following: 45.8 g of nitrogen gas 1.00 pound of aluminum metal How much heat, in joules and in calories, must be added to a 75.0–g iron block with a specific heat of 0.449 J/g °C to increase its temperature from 25 °C to its melting temperature of 1535 °C? How much heat, in joules and in calories, is required to heat a 28.4-g (1-oz) ice cube from −23.0 °C to −1.0 °C? How much would the temperature of 275 g of water increase if 36.5 kJ of heat were added? If 14.5 kJ of heat were added to 485 g of liquid water, how much would its temperature increase? A piece of unknown substance weighs 44.7 g and requires 2110 J to increase its temperature from 23.2 °C to 89.6 °C. What is the specific heat of the substance? If it is one of the substances found in , what is its likely identity? A piece of unknown solid substance weighs 437.2 g, and requires 8460 J to increase its temperature from 19.3 °C to 68.9 °C. What is the specific heat of the substance? If it is one of the substances found in , what is its likely identity? An aluminum kettle weighs 1.05 kg. What is the heat capacity of the kettle? How much heat is required to increase the temperature of this kettle from 23.0 °C to 99.0 °C? How much heat is required to heat this kettle from 23.0 °C to 99.0 °C if it contains 1.25 L of water (density of 0.997 g/mL and a specific heat of 4.184 J/g °C)? Most people find waterbeds uncomfortable unless the water temperature is maintained at about 85 °F. Unless it is heated, a waterbed that contains 892 L of water cools from 85 °F to 72 °F in 24 hours. Estimate the amount of electrical energy required over 24 hours, in kWh, to keep the bed from cooling. Note that 1 kilowatt-hour (kWh) = 3.6 106 J, and assume that the density of water is 1.0 g/mL (independent of temperature). What other assumptions did you make? How did they affect your calculated result (i.e., were they likely to yield “positive” or “negative” errors)? A 500-mL bottle of water at room temperature and a 2-L bottle of water at the same temperature were placed in a refrigerator. After 30 minutes, the 500-mL bottle of water had cooled to the temperature of the refrigerator. An hour later, the 2-L of water had cooled to the same temperature. When asked which sample of water lost the most heat, one student replied that both bottles lost the same amount of heat because they started at the same temperature and finished at the same temperature. A second student thought that the 2-L bottle of water lost more heat because there was more water. A third student believed that the 500-mL bottle of water lost more heat because it cooled more quickly. A fourth student thought that it was not possible to tell because we do not know the initial temperature and the final temperature of the water. Indicate which of these answers is correct and describe the error in each of the other answers. Would the amount of heat measured for the reaction in be greater, lesser, or remain the same if we used a calorimeter that was a poorer insulator than a coffee cup calorimeter? Explain your answer. Would the amount of heat absorbed by the dissolution in appear greater, lesser, or remain the same if the experimenter used a calorimeter that was a poorer insulator than a coffee cup calorimeter? Explain your answer. Would the amount of heat absorbed by the dissolution in appear greater, lesser, or remain the same if the heat capacity of the calorimeter were taken into account? Explain your answer. How many milliliters of water at 23 °C with a density of 1.00 g/mL must be mixed with 180 mL (about 6 oz) of coffee at 95 °C so that the resulting combination will have a temperature of 60 °C? Assume that coffee and water have the same density and the same specific heat. How much will the temperature of a cup (180 g) of coffee at 95 °C be reduced when a 45 g silver spoon (specific heat 0.24 J/g °C) at 25 °C is placed in the coffee and the two are allowed to reach the same temperature? Assume that the coffee has the same density and specific heat as water. A 45-g aluminum spoon (specific heat 0.88 J/g °C) at 24 °C is placed in 180 mL (180 g) of coffee at 85 °C and the temperature of the two become equal. What is the final temperature when the two become equal? Assume that coffee has the same specific heat as water. The first time a student solved this problem she got an answer of 88 °C. Explain why this is clearly an incorrect answer. The temperature of the cooling water as it leaves the hot engine of an automobile is 240 °F. After it passes through the radiator it has a temperature of 175 °F. Calculate the amount of heat transferred from the engine to the surroundings by one gallon of water with a specific heat of 4.184 J/g °C. A 70.0-g piece of metal at 80.0 °C is placed in 100 g of water at 22.0 °C contained in a calorimeter like that shown in . The metal and water come to the same temperature at 24.6 °C. How much heat did the metal give up to the water? What is the specific heat of the metal? If a reaction produces 1.506 kJ of heat, which is trapped in 30.0 g of water initially at 26.5 °C in a calorimeter like that in , what is the resulting temperature of the water? A 0.500-g sample of KCl is added to 50.0 g of water in a calorimeter (). If the temperature decreases by 1.05 °C, what is the approximate amount of heat involved in the dissolution of the KCl, assuming the specific heat of the resulting solution is 4.18 J/g °C? Is the reaction exothermic or endothermic? Dissolving 3.0 g of CaCl2(s) in 150.0 g of water in a calorimeter () at 22.4 °C causes the temperature to rise to 25.8 °C. What is the approximate amount of heat involved in the dissolution, assuming the specific heat of the resulting solution is 4.18 J/g °C? Is the reaction exothermic or endothermic? When 50.0 g of 0.200 M NaCl(aq) at 24.1 °C is added to 100.0 g of 0.100 M AgNO3(aq) at 24.1 °C in a calorimeter, the temperature increases to 25.2 °C as AgCl(s) forms. Assuming the specific heat of the solution and products is 4.20 J/g °C, calculate the approximate amount of heat in joules produced. The addition of 3.15 g of Ba(OH)2·8H2O to a solution of 1.52 g of NH4SCN in 100 g of water in a calorimeter caused the temperature to fall by 3.1 °C. Assuming the specific heat of the solution and products is 4.20 J/g °C, calculate the approximate amount of heat absorbed by the reaction, which can be represented by the following equation: Ba(OH)2·8H2O(s) + 2NH4SCN(aq) ⟶ Ba(SCN)2(aq) + 2NH3(aq) + 10H2O(l) The reaction of 50 mL of acid and 50 mL of base described in increased the temperature of the solution by 6.9 ºC. How much would the temperature have increased if 100 mL of acid and 100 mL of base had been used in the same calorimeter starting at the same temperature of 22.0 ºC? Explain your answer. If the 3.21 g of NH4NO3 in were dissolved in 100.0 g of water under the same conditions, how much would the temperature change? Explain your answer. When 1.0 g of fructose, C6H12O6(s), a sugar commonly found in fruits, is burned in oxygen in a bomb calorimeter, the temperature of the calorimeter increases by 1.58 °C. If the heat capacity of the calorimeter and its contents is 9.90 kJ/°C, what is q for this combustion? When a 0.740-g sample of trinitrotoluene (TNT), C7H5N2O6, is burned in a bomb calorimeter, the temperature increases from 23.4 °C to 26.9 °C. The heat capacity of the calorimeter is 534 J/°C, and it contains 675 mL of water. How much heat was produced by the combustion of the TNT sample? One method of generating electricity is by burning coal to heat water, which produces steam that drives an electric generator. To determine the rate at which coal is to be fed into the burner in this type of plant, the heat of combustion per ton of coal must be determined using a bomb calorimeter. When 1.00 g of coal is burned in a bomb calorimeter (), the temperature increases by 1.48 °C. If the heat capacity of the calorimeter is 21.6 kJ/°C, determine the heat produced by combustion of a ton of coal (2.000 103 pounds). The amount of fat recommended for someone with a daily diet of 2000 Calories is 65 g. What percent of the calories in this diet would be supplied by this amount of fat if the average number of Calories for fat is 9.1 Calories/g? A teaspoon of the carbohydrate sucrose (common sugar) contains 16 Calories (16 kcal). What is the mass of one teaspoon of sucrose if the average number of Calories for carbohydrates is 4.1 Calories/g? What is the maximum mass of carbohydrate in a 6-oz serving of diet soda that contains less than 1 Calorie per can if the average number of Calories for carbohydrates is 4.1 Calories/g? A pint of premium ice cream can contain 1100 Calories. What mass of fat, in grams and pounds, must be produced in the body to store an extra 1.1 103 Calories if the average number of Calories for fat is 9.1 Calories/g? A serving of a breakfast cereal contains 3 g of protein, 18 g of carbohydrates, and 6 g of fat. What is the Calorie content of a serving of this cereal if the average number of Calories for fat is 9.1 Calories/g, for carbohydrates is 4.1 Calories/g, and for protein is 4.1 Calories/g? Which is the least expensive source of energy in kilojoules per dollar: a box of breakfast cereal that weighs 32 ounces and costs $4.23, or a liter of isooctane (density, 0.6919 g/mL) that costs $0.45? Compare the nutritional value of the cereal with the heat produced by combustion of the isooctane under standard conditions. A 1.0-ounce serving of the cereal provides 130 Calories. Explain how the heat measured in differs from the enthalpy change for the exothermic reaction described by the following equation: Using the data in the check your learning section of , calculate ΔH in kJ/mol of AgNO3(aq) for the reaction: Calculate the enthalpy of solution (ΔH for the dissolution) per mole of NH4NO3 under the conditions described in . Calculate ΔH for the reaction described by the equation. (Hint: Use the value for the approximate amount of heat absorbed by the reaction that you calculated in a previous exercise.) Calculate the enthalpy of solution (ΔH for the dissolution) per mole of CaCl2 (refer to ). Although the gas used in an oxyacetylene torch () is essentially pure acetylene, the heat produced by combustion of one mole of acetylene in such a torch is likely not equal to the enthalpy of combustion of acetylene listed in . Considering the conditions for which the tabulated data are reported, suggest an explanation. How much heat is produced by burning 4.00 moles of acetylene under standard state conditions? How much heat is produced by combustion of 125 g of methanol under standard state conditions? How many moles of isooctane must be burned to produce 100 kJ of heat under standard state conditions? What mass of carbon monoxide must be burned to produce 175 kJ of heat under standard state conditions? When 2.50 g of methane burns in oxygen, 125 kJ of heat is produced. What is the enthalpy of combustion per mole of methane under these conditions? How much heat is produced when 100 mL of 0.250 M HCl (density, 1.00 g/mL) and 200 mL of 0.150 M NaOH (density, 1.00 g/mL) are mixed? If both solutions are at the same temperature and the specific heat of the products is 4.19 J/g °C, how much will the temperature increase? What assumption did you make in your calculation? A sample of 0.562 g of carbon is burned in oxygen in a bomb calorimeter, producing carbon dioxide. Assume both the reactants and products are under standard state conditions, and that the heat released is directly proportional to the enthalpy of combustion of graphite. The temperature of the calorimeter increases from 26.74 °C to 27.93 °C. What is the heat capacity of the calorimeter and its contents? Before the introduction of chlorofluorocarbons, sulfur dioxide (enthalpy of vaporization, 6.00 kcal/mol) was used in household refrigerators. What mass of SO2 must be evaporated to remove as much heat as evaporation of 1.00 kg of CCl2F2 (enthalpy of vaporization is 17.4 kJ/mol)? The vaporization reactions for SO2 and CCl2F2 are and respectively. Homes may be heated by pumping hot water through radiators. What mass of water will provide the same amount of heat when cooled from 95.0 to 35.0 °C, as the heat provided when 100 g of steam is cooled from 110 °C to 100 °C. Which of the enthalpies of combustion in the table are also standard enthalpies of formation? Does the standard enthalpy of formation of H2O(g) differ from ΔH° for the reaction Joseph Priestly prepared oxygen in 1774 by heating red mercury(II) oxide with sunlight focused through a lens. How much heat is required to decompose exactly 1 mole of red HgO(s) to Hg(l) and O2(g) under standard conditions? How many kilojoules of heat will be released when exactly 1 mole of manganese, Mn, is burned to form Mn3O4(s) at standard state conditions? How many kilojoules of heat will be released when exactly 1 mole of iron, Fe, is burned to form Fe2O3(s) at standard state conditions? The following sequence of reactions occurs in the commercial production of aqueous nitric acid:
Which produces more heat, the combustion of graphite or the combustion of diamond? From the molar heats of formation in , determine how much heat is required to evaporate one mole of water: Which produces more heat? or
Using the data in , calculate the standard enthalpy change for each of the following reactions: (a) (b) (c) (d) The following reactions can be used to prepare samples of metals. Determine the enthalpy change under standard state conditions for each. (a) (b) (c) (d) The decomposition of hydrogen peroxide, H2O2, has been used to provide thrust in the control jets of various space vehicles. Using the data in , determine how much heat is produced by the decomposition of exactly 1 mole of H2O2 under standard conditions. Calculate the enthalpy of combustion of propane, C3H8(g), for the formation of H2O(g) and CO2(g). The enthalpy of formation of propane is −104 kJ/mol. Calculate the enthalpy of combustion of butane, C4H10(g) for the formation of H2O(g) and CO2(g). The enthalpy of formation of butane is −126 kJ/mol. Both propane and butane are used as gaseous fuels. Which compound produces more heat per gram when burned? The white pigment TiO2 is prepared by the reaction of titanium tetrachloride, TiCl4, with water vapor in the gas phase: How much heat is evolved in the production of exactly 1 mole of TiO2(s) under standard state conditions? Water gas, a mixture of H2 and CO, is an important industrial fuel produced by the reaction of steam with red hot coke, essentially pure carbon: Assuming that coke has the same enthalpy of formation as graphite, calculate for this reaction. Methanol, a liquid fuel that could possibly replace gasoline, can be prepared from water gas and additional hydrogen at high temperature and pressure in the presence of a suitable catalyst: Under the conditions of the reaction, methanol forms as a gas. Calculate for this reaction and for the condensation of gaseous methanol to liquid methanol. Calculate the heat of combustion of 1 mole of liquid methanol to H2O(g) and CO2(g). In the early days of automobiles, illumination at night was provided by burning acetylene, C2H2. Though no longer used as auto headlamps, acetylene is still used as a source of light by some cave explorers. The acetylene is (was) prepared in the lamp by the reaction of water with calcium carbide, CaC2: Calculate the standard enthalpy of the reaction. The of CaC2 is −15.14 kcal/mol. From the data in , determine which of the following fuels produces the greatest amount of heat per gram when burned under standard conditions: CO(g), CH4(g), or C2H2(g). The enthalpy of combustion of hard coal averages −35 kJ/g, that of gasoline, 1.28 105 kJ/gal. How many kilograms of hard coal provide the same amount of heat as is available from 1.0 gallon of gasoline? Assume that the density of gasoline is 0.692 g/mL (the same as the density of isooctane). Ethanol, C2H5OH, is used as a fuel for motor vehicles, particularly in Brazil. Write the balanced equation for the combustion of ethanol to CO2(g) and H2O(g), and, using the data in , calculate the enthalpy of combustion of 1 mole of ethanol. The density of ethanol is 0.7893 g/mL. Calculate the enthalpy of combustion of exactly 1 L of ethanol. Assuming that an automobile’s mileage is directly proportional to the heat of combustion of the fuel, calculate how much farther an automobile could be expected to travel on 1 L of gasoline than on 1 L of ethanol. Assume that gasoline has the heat of combustion and the density of n–octane, C8H18 density = 0.7025 g/mL). Among the substances that react with oxygen and that have been considered as potential rocket fuels are diborane [B2H6, produces B2O3(s) and H2O(g)], methane [CH4, produces CO2(g) and H2O(g)], and hydrazine [N2H4, produces N2(g) and H2O(g)]. On the basis of the heat released by 1.00 g of each substance in its reaction with oxygen, which of these compounds offers the best possibility as a rocket fuel? The of B2H6(g), CH4(g), and N2H4(l) may be found in . How much heat is produced when 1.25 g of chromium metal reacts with oxygen gas under standard conditions? Ethylene, C2H4, a byproduct from the fractional distillation of petroleum, is fourth among the 50 chemical compounds produced commercially in the largest quantities. About 80% of synthetic ethanol is manufactured from ethylene by its reaction with water in the presence of a suitable catalyst. Using the data in the table in , calculate ΔH° for the reaction. The oxidation of the sugar glucose, C6H12O6, is described by the following equation: The metabolism of glucose gives the same products, although the glucose reacts with oxygen in a series of steps in the body. How much heat in kilojoules can be produced by the metabolism of 1.0 g of glucose? How many Calories can be produced by the metabolism of 1.0 g of glucose? Propane, C3H8, is a hydrocarbon that is commonly used as a fuel. Write a balanced equation for the complete combustion of propane gas. Calculate the volume of air at 25 °C and 1.00 atmosphere that is needed to completely combust 25.0 grams of propane. Assume that air is 21.0 percent O2 by volume. (Hint: We will see how to do this calculation in a later chapter on gases—for now use the information that 1.00 L of air at 25 °C and 1.00 atm contains 0.275 g of O2.) The heat of combustion of propane is −2,219.2 kJ/mol. Calculate the heat of formation, of propane given that of H2O(l) = −285.8 kJ/mol and of CO2(g) = −393.5 kJ/mol. Assuming that all of the heat released in burning 25.0 grams of propane is transferred to 4.00 kilograms of water, calculate the increase in temperature of the water. During a recent winter month in Sheboygan, Wisconsin, it was necessary to obtain 3500 kWh of heat provided by a natural gas furnace with 89% efficiency to keep a small house warm (the efficiency of a gas furnace is the percent of the heat produced by combustion that is transferred into the house). Assume that natural gas is pure methane and determine the volume of natural gas in cubic feet that was required to heat the house. The average temperature of the natural gas was 56 °F; at this temperature and a pressure of 1 atm, natural gas has a density of 0.681 g/L. How many gallons of LPG (liquefied petroleum gas) would be required to replace the natural gas used? Assume the LPG is liquid propane [C3H8: density, 0.5318 g/mL; enthalpy of combustion, 2219 kJ/mol for the formation of CO2(g) and H2O(l)] and the furnace used to burn the LPG has the same efficiency as the gas furnace. What mass of carbon dioxide is produced by combustion of the methane used to heat the house? What mass of water is produced by combustion of the methane used to heat the house? What volume of air is required to provide the oxygen for the combustion of the methane used to heat the house? Air contains 23% oxygen by mass. The average density of air during the month was 1.22 g/L. How many kilowatt–hours (1 kWh = 3.6 106 J) of electricity would be required to provide the heat necessary to heat the house? Note electricity is 100% efficient in producing heat inside a house. Although electricity is 100% efficient in producing heat inside a house, production and distribution of electricity is not 100% efficient. The efficiency of production and distribution of electricity produced in a coal-fired power plant is about 40%. A certain type of coal provides 2.26 kWh per pound upon combustion. What mass of this coal in kilograms will be required to produce the electrical energy necessary to heat the house if the efficiency of generation and distribution is 40%?
INTRODUCTION In 1054, Chinese astronomers recorded the appearance of a “guest star” in the sky, visible even during the day, which then disappeared slowly over the next two years. The sudden appearance was due to a supernova explosion, which was much brighter than the original star. Even though this supernova was observed almost a millennium ago, the remaining Crab Nebula () continues to release energy today. It emits not only visible light but also infrared light, X-rays, and other forms of electromagnetic radiation. The nebula emits both continuous spectra (the blue-white glow) and atomic emission spectra (the colored filaments). In this chapter, we will discuss light and other forms of electromagnetic radiation and how they are related to the electronic structure of atoms. We will also see how this radiation can be used to identify elements, even from thousands of light years away. Electromagnetic Energy LEARNING OBJECTIVES By the end of this section, you will be able to: Explain the basic behavior of waves, including travelling waves and standing waves Describe the wave nature of light Use appropriate equations to calculate related light-wave properties such as frequency, wavelength, and energy Distinguish between line and continuous emission spectra Describe the particle nature of light The nature of light has been a subject of inquiry since antiquity. In the seventeenth century, Isaac Newton performed experiments with lenses and prisms and was able to demonstrate that white light consists of the individual colors of the rainbow combined together. Newton explained his optics findings in terms of a "corpuscular" view of light, in which light was composed of streams of extremely tiny particles travelling at high speeds according to Newton's laws of motion. Others in the seventeenth century, such as Christiaan Huygens, had shown that optical phenomena such as reflection and refraction could be equally well explained in terms of light as waves travelling at high speed through a medium called "luminiferous aether" that was thought to permeate all space. Early in the nineteenth century, Thomas Young demonstrated that light passing through narrow, closely spaced slits produced interference patterns that could not be explained in terms of Newtonian particles but could be easily explained in terms of waves. Later in the nineteenth century, after James Clerk Maxwell developed his theory of electromagnetic radiation and showed that light was the visible part of a vast spectrum of electromagnetic waves, the particle view of light became thoroughly discredited. By the end of the nineteenth century, scientists viewed the physical universe as roughly comprising two separate domains: matter composed of particles moving according to Newton's laws of motion, and electromagnetic radiation consisting of waves governed by Maxwell's equations. Today, these domains are referred to as classical mechanics and classical electrodynamics (or classical electromagnetism). Although there were a few physical phenomena that could not be explained within this framework, scientists at that time were so confident of the overall soundness of this framework that they viewed these aberrations as puzzling paradoxes that would ultimately be resolved somehow within this framework. As we shall see, these paradoxes led to a contemporary framework that intimately connects particles and waves at a fundamental level called wave- particle duality, which has superseded the classical view. Visible light and other forms of electromagnetic radiation play important roles in chemistry, since they can be used to infer the energies of electrons within atoms and molecules. Much of modern technology is based on electromagnetic radiation. For example, radio waves from a mobile phone, X-rays used by dentists, the energy used to cook food in your microwave, the radiant heat from red-hot objects, and the light from your television screen are forms of electromagnetic radiation that all exhibit wavelike behavior. Waves A wave is an oscillation or periodic movement that can transport energy from one point in space to another. Common examples of waves are all around us. Shaking the end of a rope transfers energy from your hand to the other end of the rope, dropping a pebble into a pond causes waves to ripple outward along the water's surface, and the expansion of air that accompanies a lightning strike generates sound waves (thunder) that can travel outward for several miles. In each of these cases, kinetic energy is transferred through matter (the rope, water, or air) while the matter remains essentially in place. An insightful example of a wave occurs in sports stadiums when fans in a narrow region of seats rise simultaneously and stand with their arms raised up for a few seconds before sitting down again while the fans in neighboring sections likewise stand up and sit down in sequence. While this wave can quickly encircle a large stadium in a few seconds, none of the fans actually travel with the wave-they all stay in or above their seats. Waves need not be restricted to travel through matter. As Maxwell showed, electromagnetic waves consist of an electric field oscillating in step with a perpendicular magnetic field, both of which are perpendicular to the direction of travel. These waves can travel through a vacuum at a constant speed of 2.998 108 m/s, the speed of light (denoted by c). All waves, including forms of electromagnetic radiation, are characterized by, a wavelength (denoted by λ, the lowercase Greek letter lambda), a frequency (denoted by ν, the lowercase Greek letter nu), and an amplitude. As can be seen in , the wavelength is the distance between two consecutive peaks or troughs in a wave (measured in meters in the SI system). Electromagnetic waves have wavelengths that fall within an enormous range-wavelengths of kilometers (103 m) to picometers (10−12 m) have been observed. The frequency is the number of wave cycles that pass a specified point in space in a specified amount of time (in the SI system, this is measured in seconds). A cycle corresponds to one complete wavelength. The unit for frequency, expressed as cycles per second [s−1], is the hertz (Hz). Common multiples of this unit are megahertz, (1 MHz = 1 106 Hz) and gigahertz (1 GHz = 1 109 Hz). The amplitude corresponds to the magnitude of the wave's displacement and so, in , this corresponds to one-half the height between the peaks and troughs. The amplitude is related to the intensity of the wave, which for light is the brightness, and for sound is the loudness. FIGURE 6.2 One-dimensional sinusoidal waves show the relationship among wavelength, frequency, and speed. The wave with the shortest wavelength has the highest frequency. Amplitude is one-half the height of the wave from peak to trough. The product of a wave's wavelength (λ) and its frequency (ν), λν, is the speed of the wave. Thus, for electromagnetic radiation in a vacuum, speed is equal to the fundamental constant, c: Wavelength and frequency are inversely proportional: As the wavelength increases, the frequency decreases. The inverse proportionality is illustrated in . This figure also shows the electromagnetic spectrum, the range of all types of electromagnetic radiation. Each of the various colors of visible light has specific frequencies and wavelengths associated with them, and you can see that visible light makes up only a small portion of the electromagnetic spectrum. Because the technologies developed to work in various parts of the electromagnetic spectrum are different, for reasons of convenience and historical legacies, different units are typically used for different parts of the spectrum. For example, radio waves are usually specified as frequencies (typically in units of MHz), while the visible region is usually specified in wavelengths (typically in units of nm or angstroms). FIGURE 6.3 Portions of the electromagnetic spectrum are shown in order of decreasing frequency and increasing wavelength. (credit “Cosmic ray": modification of work by NASA; credit “PET scan": modification of work by the National Institute of Health; credit “X-ray": modification of work by Dr. Jochen Lengerke; credit “Dental curing": modification of work by the Department of the Navy; credit “Night vision": modification of work by the Department of the Army; credit “Remote": modification of work by Emilian Robert Vicol; credit “Cell phone": modification of work by Brett Jordan; credit “Microwave oven": modification of work by Billy Mabray; credit “Ultrasound": modification of work by Jane Whitney; credit “AM radio": modification of work by Dave Clausen) Determining the Frequency and Wavelength of Radiation A sodium streetlight gives off yellow light that has a wavelength of 589 nm (1 nm = 1 10−9 m). What is the frequency of this light? Solution We can rearrange the equation c = λν to solve for the frequency:
Check Your Learning One of the frequencies used to transmit and receive cellular telephone signals in the United States is 850 MHz. What is the wavelength in meters of these radio waves? Answer: 0.353 m = 35.3 cm
FIGURE 6.4 Radio and cell towers are typically used to transmit long-wavelength electromagnetic radiation. Increasingly, cell towers are designed to blend in with the landscape, as with the Tucson, Arizona, cell tower (right) disguised as a palm tree. (credit left: modification of work by Sir Mildred Pierce; credit middle: modification of work by M.O. Stevens) Many valuable technologies operate in the radio (3 kHz-300 GHz) frequency region of the electromagnetic spectrum. At the low frequency (low energy, long wavelength) end of this region are AM (amplitude modulation) radio signals (540-2830 kHz) that can travel long distances. FM (frequency modulation) radio signals are used at higher frequencies (87.5-108.0 MHz). In AM radio, the information is transmitted by varying the amplitude of the wave (). In FM radio, by contrast, the amplitude is constant and the instantaneous frequency varies.
One particularly characteristic phenomenon of waves results when two or more waves come into contact: They interfere with each other. shows the interference patterns that arise when light passes through narrow slits closely spaced about a wavelength apart. The fringe patterns produced depend on the wavelength, with the fringes being more closely spaced for shorter wavelength light passing through a given set of slits. When the light passes through the two slits, each slit effectively acts as a new source, resulting in two closely spaced waves coming into contact at the detector (the camera in this case). The dark regions in correspond to regions where the peaks for the wave from one slit happen to coincide with the troughs for the wave from the other slit (destructive interference), while the brightest regions correspond to the regions where the peaks for the two waves (or their two troughs) happen to coincide (constructive interference). Likewise, when two stones are tossed close together into a pond, interference patterns are visible in the interactions between the waves produced by the stones. Such interference patterns cannot be explained by particles moving according to the laws of classical mechanics. FIGURE 6.6 Interference fringe patterns are shown for light passing through two closely spaced, narrow slits. The spacing of the fringes depends on the wavelength, with the fringes being more closely spaced for the shorter- wavelength blue light. (credit: PASCO) Portrait of a Chemist Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin X-rays exhibit wavelengths of approximately 0.01–10 nm. Since these wavelengths are comparable to the spaces between atoms in a crystalline solid, X-rays are scattered when they pass through crystals. The scattered rays undergo constructive and destructive interference that creates a specific diffraction pattern that may be measured and used to precisely determine the positions of atoms within the crystal. This phenomenon of X-ray diffraction is the basis for very powerful techniques enabling the determination of molecular structure. One of the pioneers who applied this powerful technology to important biochemical substances was Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin. Born in Cairo, Egypt, in 1910 to British parents, Dorothy’s fascination with chemistry was fostered early in her life. At age 11 she was enrolled in a prestigious English grammar school where she was one of just two girls allowed to study chemistry. On her 16th birthday, her mother, Molly, gifted her a book on X-ray crystallography, which had a profound impact on the trajectory of her career. She studied chemistry at Oxford University, graduating with first-class honors in 1932 and directly entering Cambridge University to pursue a doctoral degree. At Cambridge, Dorothy recognized the promise of X-ray crystallography for protein structure determinations, conducting research that earned her a PhD in 1937. Over the course of a very productive career, Dr. Hodgkin was credited with determining structures for several important biomolecules, including cholesterol iodide, penicillin, and vitamin B12. In recognition of her achievements in the use of X-ray techniques to elucidate the structures of biochemical substances, she was awarded the 1964 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. In 1969, she led a team of scientists who deduced the structure of insulin, facilitating the mass production of this hormone and greatly advancing the treatment of diabetic patients worldwide. Dr. Hodgkin continued working with the international scientific community, earning numerous distinctions and awards prior to her death in 1993. Not all waves are travelling waves. Standing waves (also known as stationary waves) remain constrained within some region of space. As we shall see, standing waves play an important role in our understanding of the electronic structure of atoms and molecules. The simplest example of a standing wave is a one- dimensional wave associated with a vibrating string that is held fixed at its two end points. shows the four lowest-energy standing waves (the fundamental wave and the lowest three harmonics) for a vibrating string at a particular amplitude. Although the string's motion lies mostly within a plane, the wave itself is considered to be one dimensional, since it lies along the length of the string. The motion of string segments in a direction perpendicular to the string length generates the waves and so the amplitude of the waves is visible as the maximum displacement of the curves seen in . The key observation from the figure is that only those waves having an integer number, n, of half-wavelengths between the end points can form. A system with fixed end points such as this restricts the number and type of the possible waveforms. This is an example of quantization, in which only discrete values from a more general set of continuous values of some property are observed. Another important observation is that the harmonic waves (those waves displaying more than one-half wavelength) all have one or more points between the two end points that are not in motion. These special points are nodes. The energies of the standing waves with a given amplitude in a vibrating string increase with the number of half-wavelengths n. Since the number of nodes is n – 1, the energy can also be said to depend on the number of nodes, generally increasing as the number of nodes increases. FIGURE 6.7 A vibrating string shows some one-dimensional standing waves. Since the two end points of the string are held fixed, only waves having an integer number of half-wavelengths can form. The points on the string between the end points that are not moving are called the nodes. An example of two-dimensional standing waves is shown in , which shows the vibrational patterns on a flat surface. Although the vibrational amplitudes cannot be seen like they could in the vibrating string, the nodes have been made visible by sprinkling the drum surface with a powder that collects on the areas of the surface that have minimal displacement. For one-dimensional standing waves, the nodes were points on the line, but for two-dimensional standing waves, the nodes are lines on the surface (for three-dimensional standing waves, the nodes are two-dimensional surfaces within the three-dimensional volume). FIGURE 6.8 Two-dimensional standing waves can be visualized on a vibrating surface. The surface has been sprinkled with a powder that collects near the nodal lines. There are two types of nodes visible: radial nodes
Blackbody Radiation and the Ultraviolet Catastrophe The last few decades of the nineteenth century witnessed intense research activity in commercializing newly discovered electric lighting. This required obtaining a better understanding of the distributions of light emitted from various sources being considered. Artificial lighting is usually designed to mimic natural sunlight within the limitations of the underlying technology. Such lighting consists of a range of broadly distributed frequencies that form a continuous spectrum. shows the wavelength distribution for sunlight. The most intense radiation is in the visible region, with the intensity dropping off rapidly for shorter wavelength ultraviolet (UV) light, and more slowly for longer wavelength infrared (IR) light. FIGURE 6.9 The spectral distribution (light intensity vs. wavelength) of sunlight reaches the Earth's atmosphere as UV light, visible light, and IR light. The unabsorbed sunlight at the top of the atmosphere has a distribution that approximately matches the theoretical distribution of a blackbody at 5250 °C, represented by the blue curve. (credit: modification of work by American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) Terrestrial Reference Spectra for Photovoltaic Performance Evaluation) In , the solar distribution is compared to a representative distribution, called a blackbody spectrum, that corresponds to a temperature of 5250 °C. The blackbody spectrum matches the solar spectrum quite well. A blackbody is a convenient, ideal emitter that approximates the behavior of many materials when heated. It is “ideal” in the same sense that an ideal gas is a convenient, simple representation of real gases that works well, provided that the pressure is not too high nor the temperature too low. A good approximation of a blackbody that can be used to observe blackbody radiation is a metal oven that can be heated to very high temperatures. The oven has a small hole allowing for the light being emitted within the oven to be observed with a spectrometer so that the wavelengths and their intensities can be measured. shows the resulting curves for some representative temperatures. Each distribution depends only on a single parameter: the temperature. The maxima in the blackbody curves, λmax, shift to shorter wavelengths as the temperature increases, reflecting the observation that metals being heated to high temperatures begin to glow a darker red that becomes brighter as the temperature increases, eventually becoming white hot at very high temperatures as the intensities of all of the visible wavelengths become appreciable. This common observation was at the heart of the first paradox that showed the fundamental limitations of classical physics that we will examine. Physicists derived mathematical expressions for the blackbody curves using well-accepted concepts from the theories of classical mechanics and classical electromagnetism. The theoretical expressions as functions of temperature fit the observed experimental blackbody curves well at longer wavelengths, but showed significant discrepancies at shorter wavelengths. Not only did the theoretical curves not show a peak, they absurdly showed the intensity becoming infinitely large as the wavelength became smaller, which would imply that everyday objects at room temperature should be emitting large amounts of UV light. This became known as the “ultraviolet catastrophe” because no one could find any problems with the theoretical treatment that could lead to such unrealistic short-wavelength behavior. Finally, around 1900, Max Planck derived a theoretical expression for blackbody radiation that fit the experimental observations exactly (within experimental error). Planck developed his theoretical treatment by extending the earlier work that had been based on the premise that the atoms composing the oven vibrated at increasing frequencies (or decreasing wavelengths) as the temperature increased, with these vibrations being the source of the emitted electromagnetic radiation. But where the earlier treatments had allowed the vibrating atoms to have any energy values obtained from a continuous set of energies (perfectly reasonable, according to classical physics), Planck found that by restricting the vibrational energies to discrete values for each frequency, he could derive an expression for blackbody radiation that correctly had the intensity dropping rapidly for the short wavelengths in the UV region. The quantity h is a constant now known as Planck's constant, in his honor. Although Planck was pleased he had resolved the blackbody radiation paradox, he was disturbed that to do so, he needed to assume the vibrating atoms required quantized energies, which he was unable to explain. The value of Planck's constant is very small, 6.626 10−34 joule seconds (J s), which helps explain why energy quantization had not been observed previously in macroscopic phenomena.