What are the principles of calorimetry?

1 Answer
Apr 17, 2014

The basic principle is the Law of Conservation of Energy: the sum of all the energies (heats) must equal zero.

  1. q_1 + q_2 + q_3 + …q1+q2+q3+ = 0

  2. Heat going into a system is positive. Heat leaving a system is negative.

The formulas for calculating the heats are:

q = mcΔT or q = ncΔT, where c is the specific heat capacity and ΔT is the temperature change

q = CΔT, where C is the heat capacity

q = nΔH_"rxn" or q = mΔH_"rxn"

q = mΔH_"fus" or q = nΔH_"fus"

You use m for mass or n for number of moles, depending on the units of the given information.

Full calculation and explanation in this video: