## Eric’s Enlightenment for Friday, May 15, 2015

1. An infographic compares R and Python for statistics, data analysis, and data visualization – in a lot of detail!
2. Psychologist Brian Nosek tackles human biases in science – including motivated reasoning and confirmation bias – long but very worthwhile to read.
3. Scott Sumner’s wife documents her observations of Beijing during her current trip – very interesting comparisons of how normal life has changed rapidly over the past 10 years.
4. Is hot air or hot water more effective at melting a frozen pipe – a good answer based on heat capacity and heat resistivity ensues.

## 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

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

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.

$C = \Delta H \div \Delta T$.

## 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).