What three factors do you need to know in order to calculate the heat change of a chemical reaction in a calorimeter?

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BlackTom AI · Accepted Answer

To determine the heat change in a calorimeter, you need the amount of heat that the system or the calorimeter can absorb per degree of temperature change, and how much the temperature actually changes.
Option A: 'heat capacity of reactants, mass of material that absorbs the heat, temperature change'—This wrongly assigns heat capacity to the reactants rather than the calorimeter (or the calorimeter-plus-contents) and introduces a separate mass term that isn’t independently needed once you have the overall heat capacity.
Option B: 'mass of reactants, mass of material that absorbs the heat, temperature change'—This uses masses for both the reactants and the absorber, but heat calculation in a calorimeter typically relies on a heat capacity (or an equivalent energy-transfer constant) rather than needing the mass of the reactants alone; it omits the key concept of how much heat per degree the absorber can take.
Option C: 'heat capacity and mass of material that absorbs the heat, temperature change'—Here you have the two essential ingredients: the material that absorbs heat has a certain capacity to store heat (characterized by its heat capacity, which often already incorporates mass effects), and the observed temperature change tells you how much heat was transferred. Together with the temperature change, these factors allow calculation of q = CΔT (and, if needed, q = m·c·ΔT when using specific heat and mass).
Option D: 'heat capacity and mass of reactants in the chemical reaction, temperature change'—This wrongly focuses on the mass of the reactants themselves rather than the calorimeter’s ability to absorb heat; the reaction’s mass is not directly used to determine the heat change in the calorimeter without accounting for the calorimeter’s heat absorption properties.
Overall, the core idea centers on the calorimeter’s heat-absorbing capacity (expressed as a heat capacity) combined with the observed temperature change to quantify heat transfer. The extra or misapplied quantities in the other options fail to reflect this relationship accurately.

Chemistry (H) - Varnold - Preparatory Academy - 2nd Semester - 2024/2025 2025 Thermochemistry Practice Test

What three factors do you need to know in order to calculate the heat change of a chemical reaction in a calorimeter?

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