Lesson objectives

By the end of this lesson, you will be able to:

• Understand the terms ‘chemical energy’ and ‘enthalpy change’.
• Differentiate between exothermic and endothermic reactions and understand the energy transfer involved in a combustion reaction.
• Write balanced chemical equations for the combustion of alcohols.
• Determine the heat of combustion of alcohols using calorimetry experiments.

The following practical and experimental skills will be developed:

• Taking measurements of mass and temperature
• Recording quantitative data
• Carrying out enthalpy change calculations
• Interpreting results
• Identifying sources of errors in a calorimetry experiment.

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