52nd International Chemistry Olympiad, Istanbul, TURKEY Preparatory problems: THEORETICAL

Problem 20. Journey to Different Earth-Like Planets

In the future, humankind will most likely consume all resources that are necessary for life on
earth and will have to relocate to an earth-like planet. Assume that you have started to live on a
new planet where standard pressure condition is 2 bar, standard concentration is 1 mol dm −3,
and all types of gases behave as an ideal gas. On this planet, you are asked to determine
equilibrium conditions for the reaction below:

𝑋𝑌4 (𝑔) ⇌ 𝑋(𝑠) + 2𝑌2 (𝑔)

∆𝑟 𝑆° = 80 𝐽𝐾 −1 𝑚𝑜𝑙 −1 at 298 𝐾

20.1. Calculate the change in standard enthalpy of the reaction at 298 K by using the
following information:

𝑋4 𝑌8 (𝑠) → 4𝑋(𝑠) + 4𝑌2 (𝑔) ∆𝑟 𝐻1° = 123.34 𝑘𝐽 𝑚𝑜𝑙 −1

𝑌2 (𝑔) + 𝑋4 𝑌6 (𝑙) → 𝑋4 𝑌8 (𝑠) ∆𝑟 𝐻2° = −48.48 𝑘𝐽 𝑚𝑜𝑙 −1

𝑋4 𝑌6 (𝑙) → 2𝑋2 𝑌3 (𝑔) ∆𝑟 𝐻3° = 32.84 𝑘𝐽 𝑚𝑜𝑙 −1

𝑋2 𝑌3 (𝑔) + 1⁄2 𝑌2 (𝑔) → 𝑋(𝑠) + 𝑋𝑌4 (𝑔) ∆𝑟 𝐻4° = −53.84 𝑘𝐽 𝑚𝑜𝑙 −1

20.2. Calculate ΔrG° of the reaction at 298 K.

20.3. Calculate K° of the reaction at 298 K.

20.4. Assume that ΔrH° of the reaction does not depend on temperature. Find K of the
reaction at 50 °C.

20.5. Calculate the percent degree of dissociation for XY4 at 298 K where total pressure is 0.2
bar.

20.6. In order to increase the amounts of products, which one do you choose to increase (if
you choose both, put a cross next to both of them):

☐ pressure

☐ temperature of the reaction vessel

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52nd International Chemistry Olympiad, Istanbul, TURKEY Preparatory problems: THEORETICAL

Moreover, in this future, the Earth will have a very unstable climate. The surface temperature
could increase or decrease all of a sudden. Suppose that you travelled through time to the era in
which the Earth’s climate is extremely unstable. Your task in this era is to observe the
thermodynamics of phase transitions of water, the most precious substance where all life has
originated. Suppose that the temperature suddenly decreased to −20 °C.

One mole of water becomes supercooled liquid water at −20 °C and 1 bar pressure and then
turns into ice at the same temperature (note that the temperature of the surroundings is constant
at −20 °C).

By using the following data for water:

The heat of fusion (ΔmH°) of ice at 0 °C and 1 bar is 6020 J mol−1

𝐶𝑝,𝑚 (𝐻2 𝑂(𝑠)) = 37.7𝐽 𝑚𝑜𝑙 −1 𝐾 −1

𝐶𝑝,𝑚 (𝐻2 𝑂(𝑙)) = 75.3 𝐽 𝑚𝑜𝑙 −1 𝐾 −1

During the conversion of supercooled liquid water to ice at −20 °C:

20.7. Calculate the total entropy change in the system.

20.8. Calculate the total entropy change in the surroundings.
20.9. Calculate the total entropy change in the universe.
𝑇 𝑞𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑛𝑠𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛
∆S = 𝐶𝑝 𝑙𝑛 𝑇 𝑓𝑖𝑛𝑎𝑙 and ∆S = −
𝑖𝑛𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑎𝑙 𝑇

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