Thermochemistry
Energy
 Energy: ability to do work or produce heat.
 Kinetic energy: energy of motion
 Potential energy: due to composition or position of an
object.
 Chemical systems contain both kinetic and potential
energy.
 Law of Conservation of energy: states that in an y
chemical reaction or physical process, energy can be
converted from one form to another, but is neither
created or destroyed.
 Heat (q): energy that flows from a warmer object to a
cooler object.
 If object loses heat, temperature decreases and if it gains
heat, temperature increases.
Measuring heat
 calorie (cal): the amount of heat required to raise the
temperature of 1g of water by 1C.
 Nutritional Calorie (Cal):
1Calorie= 1000 calories= 1kcal
 SI unit for measuring heat: joule ( J)
1 cal = 4.184 J
Specific heat (c)
 Amount of heat
required to raise the
temperature of one
gram of that
substance by 1C.
 Units: J/g C or
cal/g C
Calculating heat released and
absorbed.
 q = mcT
 q: heat (J or cal)
 m: mass (g)
 c: specific heat (J/g C) or (cal/g C)
  T: change in temperature
 T = Tfinal - Tinitial
Example 1
 In the construction of bridges and sky scrapers, gaps
must be left between adjoining steel beams to allow for
expansion and contraction of the metal due to heating
and cooling. The temperature of a sample of iron with
a mass of 10.0g changed from 50.4C to 25.0C with
the release of 114 J of heat. What is the specific heat of
iron?
Example 2.
 If the temperature of 34.4g of ethanol increases from
25.0 C to 78.8 C, how much heat is being absorbed
by the ethanol? Cethanol= 2.44 J/g C
Example 3
 How many joules of heat are lost by 3580 kg of granite
as it cools from 41.2 C to -12.9C? cgranite = 0.803 J/gC
1 kg= 1000g
Heat in chemical reactions and processes
 Measuring heat:
 Calorimeters : are used to measure heat or calculate
specific heat
Measuring heat
 The heat released by the system is equal to the heat
absorbed by its surroundings.
 System: part of the universe on which you focus your
attention
 Surroundings: includes everything else in the universe.
 qsystem= -qsurrounding
 q= mcT
Ex. 1 A small pebble is heated and placed in a foam cup
calorimeter containing 25.0g of water at 25.0C. The water
reaches a maximum temperature of 26.4C. How many joules
of heat were released by the pebble? (cwater=4.184 J/g C)
qwater= mcT
= 25.0g 4.184 J (26.4 C- 25.0C)
gC
= 146 J
qsystem= -qsurrounding
qwater= - qpebble
qpebble= - qwater= - 146J
Ex. 2
 An alloy of unknown composition is heated to 137 °C
and placed into 100.0 g of water at 25.0 °C. If the final
temperature of the water and alloy was 36.4 °C, and
the alloy weighed 2.71 g, what is the specific heat of the
alloy? The specific heat of water is 4.184 J/gºC.
Learning Check 1
 Given that the specific heat of gold is 0.129 J/gºC,
calculate the final temperature for the system if a 200.0 g
block of gold at 100.0 ºC is placed in a coffee-cup
calorimeter containing 50.0 g of water at an initial
temperature of 25.0 ºC. The specific heat of water is
4.184 J/gºC. (Answer: 33.2C)