AE

Activity 4: Heat & Reactions Reactions that Produce Heat

Fig 3.1

As we evaluate various alternative energy options, you will need to understand how energy transfers relate to efficiency. To do comparisons to a combustion engine, you have to know a little about how the energy is transferred in a chemical reaction. Well use heat as a form of energy to study, as it is directly related to the inefficiency of a combustion engine. You have probably seen hot packs that are sold in outdoor supply stores. You can store a hot pack for a long time before you use it. To activate the hot pack, you shake it up and break or click something inside the bag. Then, the hot pack suddenly becomes very hot. You may also know that when American soldiers are in the field and dont have access to stoves, they eat pre-packaged meals called MREs or Meals, Ready-to-Eat. Included with the MRE is a small sleeve called a Flameless Ration Heater (FRH). This packet of chemicals allows the soldiers to quickly heat their meals without having to build a fire. To heat the food, a small amount of water is added to the chemicals in the bag. A chemical reaction rapidly takes place and heats the food in 10-15 minutes.

P R E P A R I N G WHAT DO YOU THINK? LE ARNING OBJECTIVES

Watch your instructor demonstrate a hot and cold pack. 1. Describe the transfer of heat at the macroscopic scale. Where does the heat come from or go to in both the hot pack and the cold pack? A before and after diagram or bar graph may be very helpful here. 2. No consider the nanoscopic scale. How did the heat get there or where did it go when the hot/cold pack wasnt hot/cold before? Write down your thoughts on this and be prepared to share them with the class. These questions are particularly difficult, but thinking back to your days in the physics classroom may help you consider the first question. Before heading back to the laboratory, your instructor will share the unbalanced chemical reaction youll be using today. Note: There are a variety of announcements for this activity dealing with safety understand how to be safe your laboratory materials! As always, state the learning objectives for your time back in the lab.
Fig 3.2

E X P E R I M E N T I N G FRH: Flameless Ration Heaters

Part A: Exploring Flameless Ration Heaters

In this activity you will investigate the chemical method that military personnel use to heat their meals when they are in the field and do not have access to stoves. Caution: The FRH creates heat using a chemical reaction. When working with chemicals you are required to wear goggles. Also, this reaction generates a large amount of heat and hot steam emerges. Use caution when handling the FRH. 1. Obtain an FRH, a test tube, a wood splint, test tube tongs, a dropper bottle of phenolphthalein indicator, and a watch glass. Examine the FRH package carefully. Record your observations in your notebook. 2. Open the FRH by tearing it open at the top (see Figure 3.3). Look inside the bag. Record what you see in your chemistry notebook. 3. Fill the FRH to the fill line with distilled water. Record observations of the reaction as it proceeds for several minutes. Hold a watch glass over the opening of the bag. What forms on the watch glass? Place a thermometer in the FRH bag. What is the temperature? Record your observations in your chemistry notebook. Answer: Where do you think the heat comes from?
Fig 3.3

Fig 3.4

4. Collect the gas escaping from the heater, by carefully holding the opening of the bag around the mouth of the test tube (Figure 3.4). Caution: the bag and the gases are hot. Then, in the designated area, test the gas using a burning wood splint (Figure 3.4). The wood splint test is used to test for the presence of oxygen gas, hydrogen gas, and can help in determining if the gas is carbon dioxide. A glowing wood splint test is brought to the mouth of a test tube. If the splint is extinguished the gas might be carbon dioxide or some other non-flammable gas. If the splint glows brighter, the gas in the tube may be oxygen. Finally, if there is a pop or barking sound, the gas is likely hydrogen. We know this is hydrogen from Preparing, so see if you can get it to bark! 5. When the reaction is complete, add 20 mL of distilled water to the FRH. Then pour the solution from the FRH into a test tube. Add a few drops of phenolphthalein to the solution in the test tube. Phenolphthalein is an indicator. It will turn the solution pink if a base is present. Is the solution basic? Record your results in your chemistry notebook and explain how you arrived at your conclusion. 6. Dispose of the FRH according to your teachers directions.

Part B: How a Flameless Ration Heater Works

Remember to wear your goggles at all times when working with chemicals. Use tongs (not your hands) to handle the test tubes if you must pick them up or hold them while the reaction is taking place. The reaction can produce a lot of heat. Remember that the reaction produces a lot of hot steam, so angle the test tube away from other people when you start the reaction. 1. Your teacher will provide you with three samples. One contains magnesium metal pieces. The second one contains small grains of magnesium metal. The third one contains small grains of magnesium and some salt (NaCl) (the FRH contents). All three samples contain the same mass of magnesium. 2. Observe the contents of the three vials. How are they the same? How are they different? 3. Add 20-mL of distilled water to a small beaker. Place 3 drops of phenolphthalein solution to the beaker. The water with the phenolphthalein should not change color. Phenolphthalein changes to pink in the presence of a base. The reason you are adding phenolphthalein to the water now is that after you react the water with the magnesium in the test tubes, you will be able to tell whether and how fast a base is being created. The faster the reaction occurs the quicker the solution will turn pink and the darker pink it will be. 4. Using a graduated cylinder measure three 5-mL samples of water-indicator solution. Add these to the three test tubes at the same time. Observe and compare. Record your observations in your chemistry notebook. Which sample turns the solution dark pink the fastest? 5. Look over your results and discuss them with your group. a) Write a statement that relates particle size to reaction rate. b) What do you think the salt in the third test tube did? 6. Carefully feel the sides of the three test tubes. Do they feel warm or hot? Explain. 7. Dispose of the magnesium and the solutions by placing them in the waste beaker. Do not put magnesium ribbon, pieces, or powder down the drain or in the garbage because they can generate enough heat to catch fire to paper or to melt plastic pipes. Clean your test tubes when you are done.

A N A L Y Z I N G Heat and Reactions

Reading: Heat & Reactions

Read Chem Talk on pages 321 325 in your Active Chemistry text.

Questions: Heat & Reactions

1. Identify the following process as endothermic or exothermic a) Burning wood b) Melting Ice c) Evaporation of sweat d) A reaction with a negative enthalpy (H) e) A reaction with a positive enthalpy (H) 2. As you saw in Activity 2 hydrogen peroxide decomposes to form oxygen gas and water. 2H2O2(aq) O2(g) + 2H2O(l) a) Use the following information to determine the enthalpy change of the reaction. It takes 188 kJ of energy to break the bonds in 1 mole of H2O2 (Note: There are two moles required in this reaction.) When O2 forms, no energy is released. When 1 mole of H2O liquid forms, 286 kJ of energy is released (Note: There are two moles of water in this reaction).

b) Why is it necessary to use a balanced chemical reaction to calculate the enthalpy change of a reaction? c) Sketch what the energy diagram looks like. Label the enthalpy change on the diagram. d) Draw a dotted line on your energy diagram if you added a catalyst. 3. Look back at the FRH reaction your instructor gave to you before heading back into lab. a) Classify this reaction in as much detail as possible. b) Rewrite the full, balanced equation for the FRH reaction. 4. If I reacted 0.3200g of magnesium metal in excess water a) How many grams of magnesium hydroxide would form? b) How many liters of hydrogen gas would form? c) How many kJ of energy would be released from the system to the environment? 5. If it takes 75.0 kJ of energy to cook an egg, how many grams of magnesium would you need in an FRH to provide just enough energy to cook that egg (assuming the heat energy is perfectly transferred to the egg from the reaction)?

CT

C R I T I C A L L Y

T H I N K I N G

ME AN? KNOW? BELIEVE? CARE?

What does the activity mean?

Chemistry explains the macroscopic phenomenon (what you observe) with and explanation of what happens at the nanoscopic level (atoms and molecules) using symbolic structures as a way to communicate. Explain the meaning of this activity by completing the MNS table. MACRO Describe observations that would lead you to believe a reaction is endothermic or exothermic using terms system for the reaction and surroundings for the environment around the reaction. NANO The reading focused on the enthalpy change of the FRH. Based on what you know about entropy, describe what is happening to the entropy in this reaction based on the particles. SYMBOLIC Analyze the change in the cold pack. The cold pack is the dissolution of ammonium nitrate. Draw this symbolically by writing the equation and the energy diagram. Note that the enthalpy change is +26.0 kJ.

How do I know?
The FRH reaction happens spontaneously. What pieces of evidence do you have at the macro, nano, and symbolic levels which support this statement?

Why do I believe?
The graph to the right is associated with the enthalpy changes in the FRH reaction. Explain how this graph relates.

Why do I care?
Your instructor will show the combustion reaction in a basic combustion engine. Where are the energy transfers? Where are the inefficiencies?