Exothermic & Endothermic

Exothermic & Endothermic

 The changes in heat content can be determined and measured with a thermometer
 Note that the overall amount of energy does not change as energy is conserved in
reactions.This is known as the law of conservation of energy
 This means that it cannot be created or destroyed but it can be transferred
 So, if energy is transferred to the surroundings during a chemical reaction, then the
products formed must have less energy than the reactants by the same amount as
that transferred

In exothermic reactions, the temperature of the surroundings increases and the heat
content of the system falls
 In endothermic reactions, the temperature of the surroundings falls and the heat
content of the system increases

 The following are some examples of heat changes in reactions

o Neutralisation reactions:
 These always give energy out
o Displacement reactions:
 These can either take energy in or give it out
o Combustion reactions:
 These always give energy out2. INORGANIC CHEMISTRY

Calorimetry
Calorimetry
 Calorimetry is a technique used to measure changes in enthalpy of chemical reactions
 There are two types of calorimetry experiments you need to know:
o Enthalpy changes of reactions in solution
o Enthalpy changes of combustion
Reactions in solution

 The principle of these calorimetry experiments is to carry out the reaction with an excess
of one reagent and measure the temperature change over the course of a few minutes
 This technique is suitable for reaction such as dissolving, displacement and neutralisation
 For the purposes of the calculations, some assumptions are made about the experiment:
o That the specific heat capacity of the solution is the same as pure water, i.e. 4.18 J
g-1 K-1
o That the density of the solution is the same as pure water, i.e. 1 g cm-3
o The specific heat capacity of the container is ignored
o The reaction is complete
o There are negligible heat losses
 A calorimeter can be made up of a polystyrene drinking cup, a vacuum flask or metal
can

A polystyrene cup can act as a calorimeter to find enthalpy changes in a chemical reaction

 A fixed volume of one reagent is added to the calorimeter and the initial temperature
taken with a thermometer
 An excess amount of the second reagent is added and the solution is stirred continuously
 The maximum temperature is recorded and the temperature rise calculated
Enthalpy of combustion experiments

 The principle here is to use the heat released by a combustion reaction to increase the
heat content of water
 A typical simple calorimeter is used to measure the temperature changes to the water

A simple combustion calorimeter

 A fixed volume of water is measured and transferred to the copper can

 The spirit burner containing, for example, an alcohol, is weighed on a 2 d.p. balance
 The initial temperature of the water is measured and recorded
 The alcohol is ignited and the water is stirred continuously
 When the temperature has risen by about 20 degrees the flame is extinguished and the
spirit burner is re-weighed
 The final temperature of the water is recorded

Sources of error

 Not all the heat produced by the combustion reaction is transferred to the water
o Some heat is lost to the surroundings
o Some heat is absorbed by the calorimeter
 To minimise the heat losses the copper calorimeter should not be placed too far above the
flame and a lid placed over the calorimeter
 Shielding can be used to reduce draughts
 In this experiment the main sources of error are
o Heat losses
o Incomplete combustion
o
Energetics Calculations
Calculate Heat Energy Change
 In order the calculate heat energy changes you need to know the mass of the substance
being heated, the temperature change and the specific heat capacity of the substance
 The specific heat capacity (c) is the energy needed to raise the temperature of 1 g of a
substance by 1 K
 The specific heat capacity of water is 4.18 J g-1 K-1
 The energy transferred as heat can be calculated by:

Equation for calculating energy transferred in a calorimeter

 The temperature change in Kelvin is the same as the temperature change in degrees
Celsius

Worked Example
Excess iron powder was added to 100.0 cm3 of 0.200 mol dm-3 copper(II)sulfate solution in a
calorimeter. The reaction equation was as follows, Fe (s) + CuSO4 (aq) → FeSO4 (aq) + Cu
(s)The maximum temperature rise was 7.5 oC. Determine the heat energy change of the reaction,
in kJ

Answer:

The solution is assumed to have the same density as water, so 100.0 cm3 has a mass of 100 g

q = m x c x ΔT

q = 100 g x 4.18 J g-1 K-1 x 7.5 K = – 3135 J = -3.13 kJ

Worked Example
1.023 g of propan-1-ol (M = 60.11 g mol-1) was burned in a spirit burner and used to heat 200 g
of water in a copper calorimeter. The temperature of the water rose by 30 oC.Calculate the heat
energy change for the combustion of propan-1-ol using this data.
Answer:

Calculate q

q = m x c x ΔT

q = 200 g x 4.18 J g-1 K-1 x 30 K = – 25 080 J = -25 kJ

Calculate Molar Enthalpy Change

 Molar enthalpy change is the heat energy change per mole of substance
 The symbol is ΔH and it has the unit kJ per mole
 If is found by first determining the heat energy change for the reaction, q, and then
dividing by the number of moles, n, of the substance

molar enthalpy change = heat change for the reaction ÷ number of moles

ΔH = q ÷ n

Worked Example
The energy from 0.01 mol of propan-1-ol was used to heat up 250 g of water. The temperature of
the water rose from 298 K to 310 K (the specific heat capacity of water is 4.18 J g-1 K-1.Calculate
the molar enthalpy of combustion.

Answer:

Step 1: q = m x c x ΔT

m (of water) = 250 g

c (of water) = 4.18 J g-1 K-1

ΔT (of water) = 310 – 298 K

= 12 K

Step 2: q = 250 x 4.18 x 12

= 12 540 J

Step 3: This is the energy released by 0.01 mol of propan-1-ol

Total energy ΔH = q ÷ n = 12 540 J ÷ 0.01 mol = 1 254 000 J mol-1

Total energy = – 1254 kJ mol-1

Energy Level Diagrams
Energy Level Diagrams
Energy Level Diagrams

 Energy level diagrams (sometimes called reaction profiles) are graphical representations
of the relative energies of the reactants and products in chemical reactions
 The energy of the reactants and products are displayed on the y-axis and the reaction
pathway is shown on the x-axis
 Arrows on the diagrams indicate whether the reaction is exothermic
(downwards pointing) or endothermic (upwards pointing)
 The difference in height between the energy of reactants and products represents
the overall energy change of a reaction
 The initial increase in energy represents the activation energy required to start the
reaction
 The greater the initial rise then the more energy that is required to get the reaction going
e.g., more heat needed

Reaction profile of an exothermic reaction and an endothermic reaction

 Energy is given out in exothermic reactions

 The energy of the products will be lower than the energy of the reactants, so the change
in energy is negative
 This is represented on the reaction profile with a downwards-arrow as the energy of the
products is lower than the reactants
 Energy is taken in endothermic reactions
  The energy of the products will be higher than the energy of the reactants, so the change
in energy is positive
 This is represented on the reaction profile with an upwards-arrow as the energy of the
products is higher than the reactants

Bond Energy
Bond Energy
 Energy is needed to break bonds which is absorbed from the reaction surroundings, so
bond breaking is an endothermic process
 The opposite occurs for forming bonds as it releases energy back to the surroundings in
an exothermic process
 Both processes occur in the same chemical reaction, for example, in the production of
ammonia:

N2 + 3H2 ⟶ 2NH3

 The bonds in the N-N and H-H molecules must be broken which requires energy while
the bonds in the NH3 molecule are formed which releases energy
 Most reactions occur in a number of steps including steps that are exothermic and steps
that are endothermic
 Whether a reaction is overall endothermic or exothermic depends on
the difference between the sum of the exothermic steps and the sum of the endothermic
steps

Endothermic

 If more energy is absorbed than is released, this reaction is endothermic

 More energy is required to break the bonds than that gained from making the new bonds
 The change in energy is positive since the reactants have more energy than the products
 Therefore an endothermic reaction has a positive change in energy
 Energy must be absorbed from the surroundings for bonds to be broken

Exothermic

 If more energy is released than is absorbed, then the reaction is exothermic

 More energy is released when new bonds are formed than energy required to break the
bonds in the reactants
 The change in energy is negative since the reactants have less energy than the products
 Therefore an exothermic reaction has a negative change in energy.

Making new bonds gives off heat from the reaction to the surroundings
Bond Energy Calculations
 Each chemical bond has a specific bond energy associated with it
 This is the amount of energy required to break the bond or the amount of energy given
out when the bond is formed
 This energy can be used to calculate how much heat would be released or absorbed in a
reaction
 To do this it is necessary to know the bonds present in both the reactants and products
 We can calculate the total change in energy for a reaction if we know the bond energies
of all the species involved
 Add together all the bond energies for all the bonds in the reactants – this is the ‘energy
in’
 Add together the bond energies for all the bonds in the products – this is the ‘energy out’
 Calculate the energy change using the equation:

Energy change = Energy taken in - Energy given out

Worked Example
Example 1Hydrogen and chlorine react to form hydrogen chloride gas:

H2 + Cl2 ⟶ 2HCl

The table below shows the bond energies. Calculate the energy change for the reaction and
deduce whether it is exothermic or endothermic
Answer

Worked Example
Example 2Hydrogen bromide decomposes to form hydrogen and bromine:

2HBr ⟶ H2 + Br2

The table below shows the bond energies. Calculate the energy change for the reaction and
deduce whether it is exothermic or endothermic.
Answer|:

Practical: Investigating Temperature Changes

Practical: Investigating Temperature Changes
Aim:

To perform a calorimetry study of the reaction between HCl and NaOH

Materials:

 Dilute hydrochloric acid

 Dilute sodium hydroxide solution
 Styrofoam (polystyrene) calorimeter & lid
 25 cm3 measuring cylinder
 Thermometer & stirrer

Diagram showing the apparatus for the calorimetry investigation for displacement, dissolving
and neutralisation.

Method:
 1. Using a measuring cylinder, place 25 cm3 of the NaOH solution into the calorimeter
2. Measure and record the temperature of the solution
3. Add 5 cm3 of the dilute HCl and stir
4. Measure and record the highest temperature reached by the mixture
5. Repeat steps 1 – 4 increasing the amount of acid added by 5 cm3 each time

Results:
Record your results in a suitable table, eg:

Evaluation:

Plot a graph of the results and draw a line of best fit, using the graph to determine what volume
of acid causes the biggest change in temperature
Conclusion:
The larger the difference in the temperature the more energy is absorbed or released