CHEMISTRY A-LEVEL

Finding the enthalpy of the displacement reaction of

Zinc and Copper Sulfate Solution
Benjamin Chalmers

AbstractAn experiment and set of calculations done to find

the reaction enthalpy of: CuSO4 (aq) + Zn(s) = ZnSO4 (aq) +
Cu(s)

I. M ATERIALS U SED
1)
2)
3)
4)
5)
6)
7)
8)
9)
10)

0.025dm30.00013 of 200g dm3 of CuSO4 5H2 O

2.92g0.005 of Zn powder
Polystyrene Cup
0-100 C0.5 thermometer
Stopclock
Spatula
Pipette
Mass balance
Weighing boat
Stirring Rod

Continued from previous column

Time(s)
390
420
450
480
510
540
570
600

Temperature( C)
46.0
45.0
44.0
44.0
43.5
42.5
42.0
42.0
Concluded

The mass of Zinc used = 2.97g

The results the allow us to find the enthalpy of reaction
change for the displacement reaction of Zn and CuSO4 .(see
part 2)

II. P ROCEDURE
1) Weigh in empty boat (Zeroing with the boat on the scales
to get only the mass of Zn)
2) Weigh accurately between 2.90g and 3.00g of Zinc
3) Place 0.025dm3 CuSO4 solution into the polystyrene cup
4) Start the stopwatch and record the temperature of the
solution every half minute for 2m30s
5) Add Zn at exactly 3 seconds and stir mixture thoroughly
6) Record temperature every 30 seconds from 3m30s to
10m00s
III. R ESULTS
Table I of results (from notes)
Time(s)
0
30
90
120
150
180
210
240
270
300
330
360

Temperature( C)
23.0
23.0
23.0
23.0
23.0
n/a (not taken)
34.0
39.5
40.5
43.0
45.0
46.0

Continued on next column

IV. W ORKING OUT THE MOLAR Q UANTITIES

To work out the molar quantities of Zinc: We know we have
2.97g of zinc let us call this MZn . We also know the Mr of
Zinc (found using the periodic table) 64.5g mol1 let us call
this M rZn To work out the moles of Zinc used (nZn ) is as
follows:
MZn
= nZn
M rZn
Which gives us:
2.97
= nZn = 0.04605
64.5
Next is to work out the number of moles of CuSO4 . All we
know is the concentration of CuSO4 5H2 O dissolved to make
the solution (200g dm3 , call this Csol ). So fist let us work
out the number of moles of CuSO4 5H2 O in 0.025dm3 (call
this nCuSO4 ):
Csol Vsol
= nCuSO4
M rCuSO4 5H2 O
Using the periodic table we know that the M rCuSO4 5H2 O =
249.6 so:
200 0.025
= nCuSO4 = 0.02003
249.6
and from this it is clear that CuSO4 is the limiting reagent.

CHEMISTRY A-LEVEL

V. W ORKING OUT THE E NTHALPY CHANGE

working out the enthalpy change needs us to take into
account two things. First we need to look at the actual
temperature change at the instance of adding the zinc if it all
reacted instantly. we can extrapolate this from our results by
working out the regression line from the peak downwards and
then looking at the 180 seconds mark (the point we added the
zinc) and subtracting the standing temperature of 23 C. We
will be using this data-set to work out the regression:

VI. P ERCENTAGE OUT

Using Hesss law we can work out r H from f H .
CuSO4 (aq) + Zn(s) = ZnSO4 (aq) + Cu(s)

f HCuSO
= 769.982 kJ mol1 1
4

f HZnSO
= 980.144 kJ mol1 2
4

+ r H = f HZnSO
f HCuSO
4
4

and so

f HZnSO
f HCuSO
= r H
4
4

Table II results used in regression calc

Temperature( C)

Time(s)
360
390
420
450
480
510
540
570
600

46.0
46.0
45.0
44.0
44.0
43.5
42.5
42.0
42.0

980.144 769.982 = r H = 210.162kJ mol1

I am going to ignore the fact that I did the experiment at
23.0 C as this is so close to standard conditions that it will
not matter much, however, this may have some effect.
|

Experimental Resat Expected Result

| 100 = %age out
Expected Result
|

155.3030 210.162
| 100 = %age out = 26.10%
210.162
VII. C ONCLUSION

Concluded
So letting time be x and temperature be y:
y = 0.0186x + 52.8222
Calculated using the standard:
y = a + bx
nxy xy
b=
nx2 (x)2
y bx
n
To work out the value at time=180 we simply sub in x = 180
a=

y = 0.0186(180) + 52.8222
y = 49.4742
so now we can see
T = 49.4742 23.0
T = 26.4742
The specific heat capacity of the solution is 4.18 J cm3 . So
now need to work out H
H = mcT
H = (25)(4.18)(26.4742)
H = 2766.5539 mol1
now to work out r H we simply need to divide H by
nCuSO4 (and make the sign minus due to the exothermic
nature of the reaction)
3110.7185
= r H = 155302.9705

0.02003
Finally what I worked out is the enthalpy for the displacement
of copper sulfate and zinc is r H = 155.3030 kJ mol1 .
(attached is a graphical solution)

This clearly is a little out. We can put this down to several

factors. Not least the fact we didnt do this at standard
conditions.
Firstly are the quantities of substance used. Using greater
quantity of substance will reduce effects of measuring error.
To identify the worst area of measuring error we can use the
following calculations:
for each measurement,
Times Measured Minimum Value
100 = %age Error
Measured Value
So now we can look at the measurement error for the
thermometer (we are going to say we measured it 2 times):
2 0.5
100 = %age Error = 3.8%
26.4742
and for the scales (although this should make little difference as the Zn was in excess.)
1 0.005
100 = %age Error = 0.17%
2.97
The next source of error is the energy lost into the surrounding air. To fix this we could use a better insulated vessel
for the reaction to happen in, like a calorimeter. Doing this
would make our extrapolation less necessary as the energy is
retained.
To conclude I will say that this was a success and achieved
the aim:
r H = 155.3030 kJ mol1
and
%age out = 26.10%

1 NIST-JANAF
Thermochemical
http://kinetics.nist.gov/janaf/html/Cu-017.html
2 NIST-JANAF
Thermochemical
http://kinetics.nist.gov/janaf/html/O-071.html

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