Investigation of Enthalpy Change When Mg is added to HCl Essay

Research Question: How is the enthalpy change of the reaction between Mg and HCl affected when different amounts of Mg are added to a constant amount of HCl? Variables: Independent: Mg Dependent: Temperature Control: HCl Controlling Variables I will use three different masses of Mg: 0.02g  ± 0.001g, 0.03g  ± 0.001g, 0.04g  ± 0.001g I will measure the temperature using a colorimeter made from a foam cup, a lid, and a thermometer I will keep HCl at a constant volume of 10mL of 1M HCl Procedure: Step 1: Measure out 10mL of 1M HCl Step 2: Pour HCl into foam cup and place lid on cup Step 3: Measure the initial temperature and record data Step 4: Add in 0.02g of Mg into cup and measure the finial temperature Step 5: Calculate change in temperature by subtracting the initial temperature from the finial temperature Step 6: Repeat steps 1-5 8 more times for a total of 9 trails changing the mass of Mg in step 4 every 3 trails from 0.02g  ± 0.001g to 0.03g  ± 0.001g to 0.04g  ± 0.001g. Conclusion and Evaluation The results depicted a small correlation between the enthalpy change in the reaction between Mg and HCl when different amounts of Mg are added to a constant amount of HCl. The average enthalpy change of the different masses of Mg are not consistently changing. When the amount of Mg shifts from 0.02g  ± 0.001g to 0.03g  ± 0.001g the average enthalpy changes from 453.27 kJ/mol to 406.77 kJ/mol but when it shifts form 0.03g  ± 0.001g to 0.04g  ± 0.001g the average enthalpy changes from 406.77 kJ/mol to 418.4 kJ/mol. Now the answer to the question -How is the enthalpy change of the reaction between Mg and HCl affected when different amounts of Mg are added to a constant amount of HCl? – Is there is an effect to the enthalpy change when different amounts of Mg are added but it is irregular and the change in the enthalpy isn’t steady in its rise or decline. The experiment was done using different foam cups and a calorimeter and the amount of time that the chemicals temperatures were recorded were different. If I was to improve this experiment I would use the same kind of foam cups and lids for each trial and I would also measure the temperature for each chemical under a specific time limit which would be the same for each trial. Investigation of Enthalpy Change When Mg is added to HCl