Unit 13a: Thermodynamics I: Calorimetry
Reading
BJU book: Read Ch. 13 "Chemical Thermodynamics" up through Specific Heat
Topics
Labs
Memo: 2020-2021 labs will include hands-on and virtual, and may vary as the Covid-19 situation changes.
Here is a list of possible labs for this lesson. I will choose from this list when we get here.
BJU book: Read Ch. 13 "Chemical Thermodynamics" up through Specific Heat
Topics
- First Law of Thermodynamics
- Calorimetry
- The concept of specific heat
- Enthalpy of phase changes: Heat of fusion and heat of vaporization
Labs
Memo: 2020-2021 labs will include hands-on and virtual, and may vary as the Covid-19 situation changes.
Here is a list of possible labs for this lesson. I will choose from this list when we get here.
- The "Black Powder lab" is our regular lab, but there are numerous virtual labs which cover the topics well. There are also labs you can do at home. We'll decide when we get here.
- With proper supervision, you could make a small quantity of black powder at home. There are numerous recipes and demo videos online. There is risk of injury, and you need parents' supervision.
- There are various "calorimetry and enthalpy" labs, using water, ice, various metals, acids and bases, and salts to compute the specific heat and enthalpy changes of substances. There are many sources of error with these labs which make them difficult to work-out, but with patience they can be done at home.
Below: Black Powder is a mixture of charcoal (C), potassium nitrate (KNO3), and sulfur (S). The charcoal does the 'burning', the nitrate supplies the oxygen, and the sulfur binds it together to make it burn quickly. As long as you don't "confine it" within a container, it will just burn fast - not explode.
Lecture outline
Black Powder lab
We will make and (carefully) test old fashioned black powder. The homework builds off this lab.
This is an excellent launching pad for discussing chemical reactions and thermodynamics:
Homework
- This section covers "calorimetry", the energy changes associated with heating and cooling substances.
- Ice-Water-Steam is an excellent example
Black Powder lab
We will make and (carefully) test old fashioned black powder. The homework builds off this lab.
This is an excellent launching pad for discussing chemical reactions and thermodynamics:
- Balancing chemical reactions
- Stoichiometry
- Thermodynamics
- 'Limiting' reactants
- Moles
- Heat of reaction
Homework

12._thermodynamics_homework_part_1.docx |

12._thermodynamics_combination_problem.docx |