Calorimetry & Enthalpy Lab

Calorimetry & Enthalpy Lab is an interactive 3D thermal chemistry simulation where students perform coffee-cup calorimetry experiments. A cutaway insulated calorimeter holds a chosen mass of water at 20.0 degrees Celsius equipped with a motorized stirring rod and digital thermometer probe. Suspended above is a heated cylindrical metal sample (Aluminium, Iron, Copper, or Gold) whose mass and initial temperature are controlled by sliders. When the sample is immersed in the water bath, glowing thermal energy packets radiate from the metal into the water while a real-time 3D Temperature vs Time graph plots both cooling and warming curves converging on the exact equilibrium temperature Tf.

• Keep Sample mass at 85 g and Initial sample temp at 125 °C, then switch Sample material between Aluminium, Iron, Copper, and Gold to compare how much each raises the water temperature.
• Observe why Aluminium (c = 0.897 J/g·°C) produces more than six times the water temperature rise of an equal mass of Gold (c = 0.129 J/g·°C).
• Drag the heated metal cylinder upward out of the calorimeter water to reheat it, then drop it back into the cup to start a fresh cooling run.
• Double the Water mass from 100 g to 200 g and verify how the larger thermal reservoir reduces the temperature change ΔT.
• Use the live readouts for Water mass, ΔT, and Heat transferred q to verify the calorimetry equation q = m · c · ΔT.

1. 1Apply the conservation of energy (-q_sample = +q_water) to calculate heat transfer and final equilibrium temperature in a calorimeter.
2. 2Use the specific heat equation q = m · c · ΔT to determine the unknown specific heat capacity of a metal sample.
3. 3Explain why a substance with a higher specific heat capacity experiences a smaller temperature change for a given amount of heat transferred.
4. 4Interpret a dual temperature-time cooling and warming graph as two bodies approach thermal equilibrium.

Questions teachers ask