Physical Chemistry Lesson of the Day – Standard Heats of Reaction

The change in enthalpy of a chemical reaction indicates how much heat is absorbed or released by the system.  This is valuable information in chemistry, because the exchange in heat affects the reaction conditions and the surroundings, and that needs to be managed and taken into account – in theory, in the laboratory, in industry or in nature in general.

Chemists often want to compare the changes in enthalpy between different reactions.  Since changes in enthalpy depend on both temperature and pressure, we need to control for these 2 confounding variables by using a reference set of temperature and pressure.  This set of conditions is called the standard conditions, and it sets the standard temperature at 298 degrees Kelvin and the standard pressure at 1 bar.  (IUPAC changed the definition of standard pressure from 1 atmosphere to 1 bar in 1982.  The actual difference in pressure between these 2 definitions is very small.)

The standard enthalpy of reaction (or standard heat of reaction) is the change in enthalpy of a chemical reaction under standard conditions; the actual number of moles are specified by the coefficients of the balanced chemical equation.  (Since enthalpy is an extensive property, the same reaction under standard conditions could have different changes in enthalpy with different amounts of the reactants and products.  Thus, the number of moles of the reaction must be standardized somehow when defining the standard enthalpy of reaction.)  The standard enthalpy of reaction has the symbol ΔHº; the º symbol indicates the standard conditions.

Physical Chemistry Lesson of the Day – Intensive vs. Extensive Properties

An extensive property is a property that depends on the size of the system.  Examples include

• mass
• volume
• number of moles
• energy
• heat capacity

An intensive property is a property that does not depend on the size of the system.  Examples include

• pressure
• temperature
• concentration
• specific heat capacity
• molar heat capacity
• energy per unit of volume or mass

As you can see, some intensive properties can be derived from extensive properties by dividing an extensive property by the mass, volume, or number of moles of the system.

Physical Chemistry Lesson of the Day – The Effect of Temperature on Changes in Internal Energy and Enthalpy

When the temperature of a system increases, the kinetic and potential energies of the atoms and molecules in the system increase.  Thus, the internal energy of the system increases, which means that the enthalpy of the system increases – this is true under constant pressure or constant volume.

Recall that the heat capacity of a system is the amount of energy that is required to raise the system’s temperature by 1 degree Kelvin.  Since the heat absorbed by the system in a thermodynamic process is the increase in enthalpy of the system, the heat capacity is just the change in enthalpy divided by the change in temperature.

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Physical Chemistry Lesson of the Day – Heat Capacity

The heat capacity of a system is the amount of heat required to increase the temperature of the system by 1 degree.  Heat is measured in joules (J) in the SI system, and heat capacity is dependent on each substance.  To make heat capacities comparable between substances, molar heat capacity or specific heat capacity are often used.

• Molar heat capacity is the amount of heat required to increase the temperature of 1 mole of a substance by 1 degree.
• Specific heat capacity is the amount of heat required to increase the temperature of 1 gram of a substance by 1 degree.

For example, over the range 0 to 100 degrees Celsius (or 273.15 to 373.15 degrees Kelvin), 4.18 J of heat on average is required to increase the temperature of 1 gram of water by 1 degree Kelvin.  Thus, the average specific heat capacity of water in that temperature range is 4.18 J/(g·K).

When Does the Kinetic Theory of Gases Fail? Examining its Postulates with Assistance from Simple Linear Regression in R

Introduction

The Ideal Gas Law, , is a very simple yet useful relationship that describes the behaviours of many gases pretty well in many situations.  It is “Ideal” because it makes some assumptions about gas particles that make the math and the physics easy to work with; in fact, the simplicity that arises from these assumptions allows the Ideal Gas Law to be easily derived from the kinetic theory of gases.  However, there are situations in which those assumptions are not valid, and, hence, the Ideal Gas Law fails.

Boyle’s law is inherently a part of the Ideal Gas Law.  It states that, at a given temperature, the pressure of an ideal gas is inversely proportional to its volume.  Equivalently, it states the product of the pressure and the volume of an ideal gas is a constant at a given temperature.

An Example of The Failure of the Ideal Gas Law

This law is valid for many gases in many situations, but consider the following data on the pressure and volume of 1.000 g of oxygen at 0 degrees Celsius.  I found this data set in Chapter 5.2 of “General Chemistry” by Darrell Ebbing and Steven Gammon.

               Pressure (atm)      Volume (L)              Pressure X Volume (atm*L)
[1,]           0.25                2.8010                  0.700250
[2,]           0.50                1.4000                  0.700000
[3,]           0.75                0.9333                  0.699975
[4,]           1.00                0.6998                  0.699800
[5,]           2.00                0.3495                  0.699000
[6,]           3.00                0.2328                  0.698400
[7,]           4.00                0.1744                  0.697600
[8,]           5.00                0.1394                  0.697000

The right-most column is the product of pressure and temperature, and it is not constant.  However, are the differences between these values significant, or could it be due to some random variation (perhaps round-off error)?

Here is the scatter plot of the pressure-volume product with respect to pressure.

These points don’t look like they are on a horizontal line!  Let’s analyze these data using normal linear least-squares regression in R.

How do Dew and Fog Form? Nature at Work with Temperature, Vapour Pressure, and Partial Pressure

In the early morning, especially here in Canada, I often see dew – water droplets formed by the condensation of water vapour on outside surfaces, like windows, car roofs, and leaves of trees.  I also sometimes see fog – water droplets or ice crystals that are suspended in air and often blocking visibility at great distances.  Have you ever wondered how they form?  It turns out that partial pressure, vapour pressure and temperature are the key phenomena at work.

Dew (by Staffan Enbom) and Fog (by Jon Zander)

Source: Wikimedia