Calorimetry

Heat of Solution of Ammonium Nitrate

Concepts
Calorimeters are designed to be well-insulated, so no heat is gained from or lost to the
surroundings. If no heating element is used to introduce heat in the system, the total heat (q) for
the entire calorimeter system must equal zero. The total heat can be split into heats for each
component in the system.
Imagine a reaction in which solid ammonium nitrate (a component in some fertilizers and an
explosive) is dissolved in water to produce an aqueous ammonium nitrate solution.
NH4NO3 (s) NH4+ (aq) + NO3- (aq)
The heat flow (qrxn) for this reaction is called the heat of solution for ammonium nitrate. When
the reaction is finished, the system contains two substances, the calorimeter itself and the
aqueous solution, and there is a heat associated with each component. The heat balance for this
experiment is thus
0 = q = qrxn + qcal + qsoln
The basic strategy in calorimetry is to use a temperature change and a heat capacity to determine
a heat flow. In this experiment all substances have the same initial and final temperatures.
qcal = Ccal T = Ccal ( Tf - Ti )
qsoln = Csoln T = msoln ssoln ( Tf - Ti )
One typically determines the heat capacity of the aqueous solution (Csoln) from the mass of the
solution (msoln) and the specific heat capacity of the solution (ssoln). The mass of the solution is
the sum of the masses of the water and ammonium nitrate originally placed in the calorimeter.
The specific heat capacity of the aqueous solution is usually close to that of pure water (4.184 J
o -1 -1
C g ).
The objective of this experiment is to determine the heat of reaction (in this case a heat of
solution). The above equations can be combined and rearranged to yield a working equation:
qrxn = - qcal - qsoln = - ( Ccal + msoln ssoln ) ( Tf - Ti )
Just as the heat capacity of a substance is an extensive property, so the heat of solution is an
extensive property. It is generally more convenient to report intensive properties, thus the heat
capacity of a substance is usually reported as a specific heat capacity, that is, the heat capacity
per gram of substance. Similarly one can report a specific heat of solution, which is the heat a

solution per gram of solute. More commonly, though, the molar heat of solution is reported. The
molar heat of solution (Hsoln) is the heat of solution (qrxn) per mole of solute (n).

Hsoln =

qrxn
n