Method
This is for a neutralisation reaction adding increasing volumes of alkali to the acid
- Using a measuring cylinder measure 30cm
of dilute acid and pour into a polystyrene cup - Then stand he cup inside a beaker
- Use a thermometer to measure temperature of acid
- Measure 5cm
of alkali into cup with a measuring cylinder - Then add a plastic lid on the cup to prevent unwanted energy transfers
- Place a thermometer through the lid making sure the bulb is in the solution
- Gently stir with thermometer
- When reading on thermometer stops increasing record the maximum temperature it reached
- Repeat with increasing volumes of alkali until you reach 40cm
- Repeat the whole experiment to obtain another set of results and calculate the mean value of maximum temperature reached for each volume of alkali
- Then plot a graph of results
Results
The temperature will increase proportionally to the volume of alkali added until it reaches a maximum when everything reacts. Then adding more alkali decreases the temperature as no more energy is released but it is spread out over a large volume