I'm in the habit of keeping EVERYTHING in q = (m) (c) (Delta T) calculations positive (regardless of the energy change actually

occurring), and then assigning a sign at the end. For example, in a reaction where there is a temperature change in the water surrounding a chemical reaction, there are two ways to tackle this problem. Method A: Complicated (generally NOT the way I handle it or teach it): 1. Apply conservation of energy, where if we assume that there are no heat losses, then the heat/energy/enthalpy change in the chemical reaction will be equal and opposite to the heat/energy/enthalpy change in the H2O surrounding the reaction, so;

qH2O + qreaction = 0
2. If we re-arrange and substitute we can write; qH2O = (m) (c) (Delta T) = (m) (c) (TempFinal-TempInitial) = - qreaction (Note the negative sign in front of qreaction) Consider two situations; a. If the temperature of the water increases TempFinal > TempInitial, meaning TempFinal TInitial is a positive number, meaning qH2O is positive (i.e. the water undergoes an endothermic change by absorbing energy), meaning q for the reaction is negative (i.e., the reaction undergoes an exothermic change by releasing energy), meaning

the temp of the water goes up (which is where we started). b. If the temperature of the water decreases TempInitial > TempFinal meaning TempFinal TInitial is a negative number, meaning

qH2O is negative (i.e. the water undergoes an exothermic change by releasing energy), meaning q for the reaction is positive (i.e., the reaction undergoes an endothermic change by absorbing energy), meaning

the temp of the water goes down (which is where we started). Method B: Easier (less scientific but usually the way I teach it): 1. Apply qreaction = (m) (c) (Delta T), where Delta T is an absolute value so qreaction is always positive initially, then 2. Simply add a positive or negative sign to the q value based upon the knowledge that if, a. the temp of the water went DOWN then the reaction was endothermic and qreaction must be positive, or b. the temp of the water went UP then the reaction was exothermic and qreaction must be negative. Now of course, both of these methods give the correct (same) answer, and I appreciate that the first method is better but for ease, you may choose to follow method B. A quick note about finding the correct mass in q = m c Delta T. You may find it confusing when deciding what to include in the mass for these calculations, but really its quite simple. On the AP exam you will likely encounter only one of two situations. Firstly, one where a mass of water is heated by an EXTERNAL source (as in 1995, 2d). This is easy, since the water is the ONLY thing undergoing the temp. change, so just use its mass. Secondly, one where chemicals are mixed in solution, and a temp. change occurs in the solution. On the AP exam you will most likely find reactions where there are NO precipitates formed, NO displacement occurs, and NO gas forms, meaning nothing leaves the solution so no mass is lost, and there are no excess reactants. When this happens, and you are given the specific heat capacity of the solution, use the temp. change of the solution, and use therefore use the mass of the solution, i.e., the sum of the masses of the solute and solvent.