1045 General Chemistry - Fall 2001, Prof. Gelb
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Chapter 6 Study Guide


Chapter 6 is about thermochemistry, which is an outgrowth of the subject thermodynamics, which, as the name suggests is the study of the motion of heat and work. In thermodynamics and thermochemistry the terms "heat" and "work" are given very specific meanings, and several other quantities are introduced, namely internal energy and enthalpy. (The rest of the subject of thermodynamics is introduced in Chapter 17). The first part of Chapter 6 presents the "style" of the subject and formal statement of the First Law of Thermodynamics, and the definition of enthalpy. Enthalpy is shown to be very applicable to chemical reactions done at constant pressure (most of them), and calorimetry, the art of measuring enthalpy and energy changes, is discussed at length. Finally, Hess's Law of Heat Summation and the idea of enthalpy of formation of a compound are introduced and their utility is explained.

Suggested Problems

The following problems (in the textbook) are illustrative of the important concepts covered in this chapter, and are of comparable (or greater!) difficulty with what you might see on homeworks or exams: Chapter 6, problems 28,29,30, 31, 32, 34, 35, 37, 40, 43, 46, 54, 55, 59, 63, 65, 69, 71-75, 77, 78, 82, 84.

You should be able to:

  1. Write and manipulate the first law of thermodynamics, and the definition of enthalpy
  2. Define and explain heat and work.
  3. Use reaction enthalpies
  4. Use specific heats and heat capacities in calorimetry problems
  5. Apply Hess's Law
  6. Write "formation" reaction equations
  7. Use "heat of formation" data to calculate reaction enthalpies.

Important topics and Concepts

  1. The formal language and definitions of thermodynamics
    • Energy
    • Heat
    • Work
    • Enthalpy
    • Systems
      • Open
      • Closed
      • Isolated
    • Surroundings
    • State Functions
    • Exothermic and endothermic
  2. Pressure-volume work
  3. The First Law of Thermodynamics
  4. Conservation of Energy
  5. Heat of Reaction
    • Why enthalpy is more useful than internal energy
    • Stoichiometry
  6. Calorimetry
    • (Molar) Heat Capacity
    • Specific Heat
    • How a calorimeter works
  7. Hess's Law
    • You can add heats of reaction for a process involving several steps!
  8. Enthalpy of Formation under standard conditions
    • How they're useful - can calculate heats of reaction!
    • Ionic systems - they work a little differently here...






Last modification: Wed Oct 17 08:15:27 2001
gelb@chem.fsu.edu