Question

What is the heat of neutralization for the reaction between hydrochloric acid (HCl) and sodium hydroxide (NaOH) when 50 mL of 2 M HCl is mixed with 50 mL of 2 M NaOH in a calorimeter and the temperature increases from 25°C to 31°C?

Answer 1

To calculate the heat of neutralization, we need to use the formula:q = mcTwhere q is the heat of neutralization, m is the mass of the solution, c is the specific heat capacity of the solution, and T is the change in temperature.First, let's find the mass of the solution. Since the density of the solution is approximately equal to the density of water  1 g/mL , we can calculate the mass as follows:mass  m  = volume of HCl + volume of NaOH = 50 mL + 50 mL = 100 mL = 100 gNext, we need to find the specific heat capacity  c  of the solution. For dilute aqueous solutions, the specific heat capacity is approximately equal to that of water, which is 4.18 J/ gC .Now, let's find the change in temperature  T :T = final temperature - initial temperature = 31C - 25C = 6CNow we can calculate the heat of neutralization  q :q = mcT =  100 g  4.18 J/ gC   6C  = 2510.8 JThe heat of neutralization for the reaction between HCl and NaOH in this case is approximately 2510.8 J.