Thermochemistry Hess' law - Lab Report Example

Thermochemistry, which is a branch of thermodynamics deals with the assessment of heat energy transfer linked with chemical reactions in the lab. Learning about these heat energy transfer linked with three different chemical reactions is important for testing Hess’s law which states that: “The enthalpy change for any reaction depends on the products and reactants and is independent of the pathway or the number of steps between the reactant and product” (Regger et al 189). The knowledge obtained from this experiment is intrinsic for the chemists who usually keep track of the changes witnessed in the chemical bonds when carrying out ta chemical reaction.

200 ml of distilled water was put in the Styrofoam calorimeter followed by stirring with a thermometer. The reading in the thermometer was monitored up to the point when constant temperature was reached. 2 grams of sodium hydroxide was placed into the water and stirred with the thermometer until the highest temperature was reached. 200 ml of 0.25 ml of hydrochloric acid was placed in Styrofoam and stirred with a thermometer to ensure a constant temperature was reached. 2 grams of sodium hydroxide was placed into the hydrochloric acid and stirred with the thermometer until the highest temperature was reached.

100 ml of 0.50 M of hydrochloric acid solution was put into calorimeter while 100 ml of 0.5 M sodium hydroxide was placed in a 250 ml beaker, at room temperature. The temperature and volumes for each was measured. The sodium hydroxide solution was then added into the Styrofoam cup containing the solution of hydrochloric acid. The mixture was stirred with the thermometer until the highest temperature was reached. According to the result obtained from the experiment, Hess’ law “The enthalpy change for any reaction depends on the products and reactants and is independent of the pathway or the number of steps between the reactant and