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Michelle Yang

1-14-10
Lab Chem
Molar Heat of Fusion of Ice

Background:
Heat of fusion is the amount of energy required to convert a solid to a liquid at
constant pressure and temperature. And molar heat of fusion is the amount of energy
needed to completely change one mole of a solid into a liquid. In this lab, we will be
determining the molar heat of fusion of ice by using calorimetry.
Calorimetry is the measurement of heat. When heat is applied to a substance, it
can either have an increase in temperature or change state (ie. From solid to liquid), or
both may happen. Calorimetry involve using a container called calorimeter. It’s insulated
to prevent heat inside it to mix with the surrounding air. The calorimeter is made out of
Styrofoam, which has a low specific heat, so we can neglect any heat that it takes or give
to the solution. Specific heat is the energy required to reaise 1 gram of a substance 1C,
the specific heat of water is 4.184 J/g . C
In this lab, we will mix ice with warm water. The ice will melt and become cold
water, and then it will absorb heat and warm up to the same temperature as the
surrounding water. Then we will use the data to find out the amount of heat to melt ice.

Purpose:

Determine the heat energy required to melt one mole of ice by using calorimetry.

Hypothesis:

If we gather all the data correctly, we will calculate the mass of the water that came from
the melted ice, the change in temperature, the mass of warm water, and the energy
released; then we will be able to find the heat of fusion of ice.

Data

Calculations

Discussion:
The percent error is very high for both trails of my lab. Trial one is 12.7% and
trial 2 is 13%. There could be many experimental errors in this lab. The calorimeter
might have had a leak which affected the temperature of the solution. Air could have also
leaked in when we where stirring from the hole that the temperature probe was in. One
main error that we made during the first trial is that we spilled some of the water when
we poured it back into the calorimeter while discarding un melted ice.
To calculate the energy released by the warm water per gram of ice melted, we
had to use the equation q fjdadfa. The word per means “for” in this case, so it’s saying
how much energy is released for every gram of ice that’s melted. We had to use the
constant 4.184 to solve this equation, it’s the specific heat of water. We assume that the
ice absorbed all the heat the warm water released, that’s why +q=-q.

Conclusion:
I achieved my purpose for doing this lab and found out the molar heat of fusion of
ice by using calorimetry. My hypothesis was correct, but our results are a bit off from the
accepted value. My data was skewed due to some errors that were in the lab, which
affected the calculations.

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