Laboratory Report

Solubility as a function of temperature

Summary
The experiment aims to represent the cooling curves for 2 systems: potassium nitratewater and naphthalene- toluene and to note the temperature of the beginning of crystallization as
a function of concentration.
By plotting the logarithm of the solute concentration against the reciprocal of the absolute
temperature the dissolution heats for these saturated solutions could be estimated.
Theoretical aspects
The dissolution is generally accompanied by a thermal effect (examples: the dissolution
of NH4Cl in water takes place with absorption of heat, the dissolution of NaOH in water-with
releasing of heat). Under constant pressure these thermal effects represent the enthalpies of
dissolution dH, also called dissolution heats.
Dissolution heat depends on the concentration of solution, reaching the maximum value
at saturation, where thermal effect is Hsat.
The integral heat of dissolution Hsat of a solid could be directly determined, by
measuring its solubility at several temperatures. the dependence of saturation molar fraction of
the solid, xsat, on absolute temperature T is:

d (ln x sat ) H sat

dT
R T 2

(eq.1)

By integration, this yields:

ln x sat (T )

H sat
ct
R T

lnx sat (T )

H sat
ct
2.3 R T

Plotting ln xsat=f(1/T) , the slope of the obtained straight line is -H sat/2.3R, which allows
the calculation of Hsat. In ideal solutions the molar heat value of dont depend on the solvent
used and is approximately equal to the melting heat of solid.

Laboratory set-up
-water electrical bath
-thermometer
-4 glass tubes with different compositions of potassium nitrate-water and naphthalene- toluene
-magnetic stirrer
Working procedure
The sample is a special vial tightly closed to prevent the vaporization. The thermometer is
introduced into the interior tube of each vial for a better measurement of the temperature. The
samples are heated in the water electrical bath (shake it from time to time) till the whole solid is
dissolved. Then each sample is cooled at the room temperature under permanent stirring (with
magnetic stirrer).Every 15 seconds the temperature will be read on the thermometer. Then one
plots these values taking the point when the slope of the cooling curve T=f(t) is changed. This is
the temperature when the solution concentration becomes equal to the concentration of saturation
(the solid solubility at the respective temperature). Each vial is labeled and contains a solution
whose composition is written in Table 1.