All Partners names: OConnor, Ariola, Sbarra, & Zheng

Date of Experiment:
Date of Laboratory Report:

The Heat of Solution Lab

INTRODUCTION
In this lab assignment, it will be answering & figuring out which type of salt is effective on de-icing roads. It could
determine that by measuring the change in temperature when each salt is dissolving in water. Here are some
explanations: The substance that dissolved in the solvent is called a solute. And the substance that is dissolving the
solute is called a solvent. The heat of solution is the change in heat energy that occurs as the solute dissolves in
water. During the dissolving process, solutes either absorb the energy or release the energy from their surroundings.
Usually in winter, someone will be sprinkling rock salts on the ground. In which case salt, releases energy to their
surroundings and provide heat to help melt the icy roads. But in order to do that the the people need to know what
type of salt is more successful in defrosting the ice. And so that will lead right to the experiment.

PROBLEM
What affect does type of salt have on the change in temperature of the water in ?

HYPOTHESIS
If calcium chloride is dissolved in water, then the temperature will increase because it is an exothermic change.
Which means when the salt melt into the water itll release heat energy to its surroundings, causing the temperature
to increase.

VARIABLES
Independent Variable: Type of salt (sodium chloride, calcium chloride, ammonium chloride)
Dependent Variable: Change in temperature of water ()
Constants: Time stirred (2 minutes)
Volume of water (30mL)
Mass of salt (5g)
Control: Room temperature distilled water with no salt added stirred for 2 minutes.

MATERIALS

50 mL beaker
120 mL distilled water
Graduated cylinder
Thermometer (Celsius)
Stopwatch (use phone) (2 minutes)
3 spatulas, one per salt
1 weigh boats, one per salt
sodium chloride, NaCl (5 grams)
Calcium chloride, CaCl2 (5 grams)
Ammonium chloride, NH4Cl (5 grams)

SAFETY

Wear goggles and an apron at all times.

Handle all glass wear carefully.
Do not mix the different salts together.

Clean up all spills immediately.

No foods or drinks allowed in the lab.
Wash hands after cleanup is complete.

PROCEDURE
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.

Using the graduated cylinder, measure 30 mL of distilled water.

Pour 30mL of distilled water into the 50mL beaker from the graduated cylinder.
Record the initial temperature using the thermometer of distilled water in data table 1.
Place the weigh boat on the digital scale, and zero it.
Using the spatula, measure 5 grams of sodium chloride into the weigh boat.
Pour the 5 grams of sodium chloride into the 50mL beaker.
Using a stopwatch or phone, time 2 minutes while stirring continuously.
Record the final temperature of the solution in data table 1.
Discard of the solution into the labeled waste beaker in the hood.
Wash the beaker, thermometer, and weigh boat with alconox soap. Dry thoroughly.
Repeat steps 1-10 using calcium chloride instead of sodium chloride.
Repeat steps 1-10 using ammonium chloride instead of sodium chloride.
Repeat steps 1-3, and steps 7-10 with no salt added to distilled water as a control.

RESULTS
Data table 1: Change

Type of Solute

in Temperature for Types of Solute

Initial Temperature Final Temperature
()
()

Change in
Temperature ()

Sodium chloride

22

21.5

-0.5

Calcium chloride

22

36

14

Ammonium
chloride

23

15

-8

22.5

0.5

Distilled Water
(Control)

22

Calculations
In this experiment, there werent many calculations as there werent enough time to do more than one trial.
However the Average is a controlled variable, namely distilled water to compare against other variables such as
Sodium Chloride, Calcium Chloride, & Ammonium Chloride. The most simple way to get the results is by
following the procedure and pouring each variable into the water. The results will appear after two minutes and
people will record the data.

Graph 1:Change in Temperature for Types of Solute

SUMMARY
Sodium Chloride, caused a decrease in temperature of 0.5 starting at 22 and ending at 21.5 . Calcium
Chloride caused the greatest increase in temperature of 14 , starting at 22 and ending at 36 ., while
ammonium chloride caused the greatest decrease in temperature of 8 , starting 23 and ending at 15 . The
control increased in temperature 0.5 . As shown above, the graph represents the data being collected because the
Calcium Chloride and the control show the increase of the temperature because they are above x-axis. On the other
hand, the Sodium Chloride and the Ammonium Chloride is below zero, therefore this shows that for these salts, the
change in temperature decreased. below the x-axis represents the decrease of the temperature Compare the taller
bars to the shorter bars and give their data. .

CONCLUSION
The hypothesis of this experiment suggests that the temperature of water will increase when calcium chloride is
dissolved in water. The data from the lab procedure fully supports the claim that the water temperature increases
when calcium chloride is dissolved in water.
In the experiment, sodium chloride decreased the temperature of the water by 0.5 , calcium chloride increased
the temperature of the water by 14 , ammonium chloride decreased the temperature of the water by 8 , and the
distilled water with no salt added increased the temperature of the water by 0.5 . The data from the graph shows
that there was an increase in water temperature in when calcium chloride and distilled water with no salt added
were tested , where as sodium chloride and ammonium chloride decreased the temperature of the water in . This
supports the hypothesis that when calcium chloride is dissolved in water it will increase the temperature.
Calcium chloride increases the temperature of the water much more then sodium chloride, ammonium chloride,
and the distilled water with no salt added. When calcium chloride is added to the solvent (water) an exothermic
change occurs where the heat energy moves from the salt to the water and the temperature of the water increases.
This explains why the calcium chloride causes an increase in temperature when it dissolves and which salt

should be used to de-ice roads? Calcium Chloride raised the temperate by 14 while the other salts decreased
the temperature. When the Calcium Chloride is melted on the ice it will raise the temperature causing the ice to
melt.

VALIDITY

One improvement would be increasing the length of time each solute is stirred into the solvent. Different types of
solute dissolve slower or faster than others. If the length of time stirring the solute was increased, we may have a
clearer picture of how well each variable affects the temperature due to the change in the data of the experiment.
For example, if salt B and salt A is being used to show which one increases the most temperature, having two
minutes wouldnt be enough. During the first two minutes we boiled salt A and salt B in two containers. Salt A
seems to be quite effective, with a huge increase in temperature. However during the last two minutes, turns out salt
B had an increase of temperature higher than salt A. While it takes more time, Salt B initially ended up more
effective than salt A. This example shows that if we add more time between each salts, the result might have been
different. If this flaw is left unchanged the data collected would just stay the same.

During this experiment, three variables are held constant. These three variables include, time stirred, volume of
water, and the mass of each salt. The time stirred is a constant, because we time 2 minutes for each salt. Stirring
helps improve the data, because by stirring, we are dissolving the salts into the water. If time stirred were not held
constant, then the salts would not get the same amount of time dissolving so the data would not be accurate. The
salt which had theirs stirred the longest would probably dissolve the most and the quickest therefore, they would
probably be the best for de-icing roads.. Another variable that stays constant is the volume of water. This is a
constant because we are using 30 mL of water for each salt. The water improves the data because it is the solution.
Without water being constant the solution would be different for every salt. This would affect the data because if
there is not the right amount of solution than it would take longer for the solute to dissolve because it more liquid to
to dissolve into..The final constant was the mass of each salt. Each salt weighed 5 grams each. The salt is the solute
therefore their needs to be the same amount for each salt. This improves the data because the more we have salt,
then it would take longer for the salt to dissolve in the solution. This improves the data because not having the right
amount of salt can change the temperature to be colder than normal or warmer than normal.

ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT
An environmental impact of de-icing roads with salt is the chemicals from the salt are leaked into fresh
water lakes and ponds destroying the reproduction of wild life. The salt from the roads also flows into drinking
water. This is very harmful to the environment. When the salt goes into fresh water with wild life, it harms the wild
life. Fresh water fish, for example, are not supposed to be living in environments like that, so the salt is killing them
off. Sand is an alternative product to use on roads however, it does not have the same effect on the roads. It is less
harmful to the environment. Sand is naturally found at the bottom of fresh water lakes and ponds, therefore it would
cause no harm to any wild life.