Investigate factors that affect the amount of heat produced in neutralisation. My objective is to plan and conduct an experiment from which I should be able to draw a firm conclusion that will either prove or disprove any predictions I have made.

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MANDEEP SINGH JAGPAL

10JW

NEUTRALISATION INVESTIGATION

I am going to investigate factors that affect the amount of heat produced in neutralisation. My objective is to plan and conduct an experiment from which I should be able to draw a firm conclusion that will either prove or disprove any predictions I have made. The factor I will be investigating is concentration.

Preliminary Experiment

In order to investigate the factor that affects the amount of heat produced during neutralisation I will first of all need to conduct an experiment in order to help choose the equipment that I will be using. This experiment shall give me clear evidence to what sort of vessel I shall use during my experiment. I either shall be using a glass beaker or a polystyrene cup. The vessel that overall I shall be using will be the one which shall insulate the solution inside its container the best. I have chosen the glass beaker and the polystyrene cup because I have found that these two containers are resistant to any sort of corrosion that might occur whilst I will be using the acid and the alkalis.

Diagram

Method

  1. I will first measure out 20ml of 2M Hydrochloric acid and pour it into the glass beaker.
  2. Then I will measure the starting temperature.
  3. Then I will out 20ml of 2M Sodium hydroxide add it into the Hydrochloric acid.
  4. Then I will measure and record the increase in temperature.
  5. I will then repeat this experiment twice.
  6. Then I will repeat the steps above (1-6), but now using a polystyrene cup.

Result table

Conclusion

I believe that by looking at my observation table, it is clearly evident that the polystyrene cup prevents less heat from escaping than the glass beaker. Therefore it is a better insulator. Even though both of the vessels contained the same amount of acids and alkalis the polystyrene cup had a higher heat of neutralisation temperature. I shall therefore be using the polystyrene cup during my main experiment.

Prediction

I predict that during the process of neutralisation, heat will be given off. The heat will be given off when:

        Acid  + Alkali                         Salt + water  

The release of heat is called heat of neutralisation. The heat given off is an exothermic reaction. This type of reaction using weak acids gives off a small amount of heat.

I think that the concentration of acids will limit the amount of heat being produced, because I believe that in order for the water molecules to be produced. There has to be enough acid to react with the alkali in order to make the heat of neutralisation.

In general I think that by using a higher concentration of moles (M) more heat shall be given off. The reason for this is because that a higher concentration of acid and alkali can react with each other, for example I will be using Hydrochloric acid (HCL) and Sodium hydroxide (NaOH):

        

2M HCL + 2M NaOH                        H2O                Full neutralisation.

H+ H+    + OH- OH-                        H2O

1M HCL +        2M NaOH                H2O                Half neutralisation

H+            +        OH- OH-                OH-                so half as much

                                                        heat is given off.

I believe that in order for any sort of chemical reaction to take place bonds must be broken and new bonds to be made. The energy to break these bonds in order to set the chemical reaction in motion is the activation energy: Hydrochloric acid (HCL) is broken down into hydrogen ions (H+) and the chlorine ions (CL-), Sodium hydroxide is broken down into hydroxide ions (OH-).

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        H+  + OH-                H2O                                It is the making of                                                                         water, which gives                                                                         out heat.

I believe that if there is an increase in the concentration of the hydrogen ions, there will be an increased chance of collision so new bonds are formed. In turn producing more water molecules and more heat.

The first acid that I will use will be Hydrochloric acid (HCL). This acid only has one hydrogen ion (H+). So this will limit the amount of heat and also neutralisation. Sodium Hydroxide (NaOH) will be the neutralisation agent I shall use. The Sodium hydroxide had Sodium ions (Na+) and hydroxide ions ...

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