AUSTIN BODI OUMA SCT-253-040/2021 APCS
MULTIMEDIA UNIVERSITY OF KENYA
FACULTY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
DEPARTMENT OF PHYSICS
APPLIED PHYSICS AND COMPUTER SCIENCE
SCT-253-040/2021
AUSTIN BODI OUMA
THERMAL PHYSICS LAB REPORT
AUSTIN BODI OUMA SCT-253-040/2021 APCS
EXPERIMENT 3
AIM
To determine the latent heat of fusion of water.
Introduction
Just as steam has a higher internal energy content than water, so water has higher internal
energy content than ice. It takes a certain amount of energy for the water molecules to break
free of the forces that hold them together in the crystalline formation of ice. This same
amount of energy is released when the water molecules come together and bond to form the
ice crystal. In this experiment, you will measure the difference in internal energy between one
gram of ice at 0° C and one gram of water at 0° C. This difference in energy is called the
latent heat of fusion of water.
Apparatus
Calorimeter
Thermometer
Ice in water (at melting point)
Warm water
Procedure
1. The Trm was measured, the room temperature.
2. The Mcal was measured, the mass of the empty, dry calorimeter.
3. The calorimeter was filled up to approximately 1/2 full of warm water about 15° C
above room temperature.
4. Mcal + water was measured, the mass of the calorimeter and water.
5. Tinitial was measured, the initial temperature of the warm water.
6. Small chunks of ice were added to the warm water, wiping the excess water from each
piece of ice immediately before adding. The ice was added slowly, stirring
continuously with the thermometer until each chunk melted.
7. When the temperature of the mixture was much below room temperature as the warm
water was initially above room temperature and all the ice had melted, The final
temperature of the water was measured (Tfinal).
8. Immediately after Tfinal was measured, the calorimeter and water was weighed to
determine Mfinal.
Data
Trm = ________________
Mcal = ________________
Mcal + water = ________________
Tinitial = ________________
Tfinal = ________________
AUSTIN BODI OUMA SCT-253-040/2021 APCS
Mfinal = ________________
Calculation and Analysis.
From the principle of conservation of energy, the quantity of heat absorbed by the ice as it
melts and then heats up to the final equilibrium temperature must equal the quantity of heat
released by the warm water as it cools down to the final temperature.
Mice (Hf) +Mice (1 cal/g K) (Tfinal -0oC) = Mwater (1 cal/g K) (Tinitial -Tfinal)
Mice = Mfinal – Mcal +water.
Mass of ice = 279.8 – 256.72 = 23.08g.
Mass of water = Mcal+water – Mcal.
256.72 – 187.89 = 68.88g.
Hf = Mwater (1 cal/g K) (Tinitial -Tfinal) - Mice (1 cal/g K) (Tfinal -0oC)
Mice
Hf = 68.88g × (1 cal/g K) (50-18) – 23.08g × (1 cal/g K) (18 – 0)
23.08g
Hf =77.50cal/g
1 kcal/kg = 1cal/g
77.50cal/g = 77.50kcal/kg.
Lf of water is approximately = 3.33 × 105 J/kg = 79.5 kcal/kg = 6.01 × 106 J/kmol.
There was unwanted heat loss to the surrounding resulting to an error, therefore;
Error = 79.5 – 77.50 = 2.
Percentage error = 2/79.5 × 100% = 2.51%.
AUSTIN BODI OUMA SCT-253-040/2021 APCS
Discussion.
Latent heat of fusion is the process through which a substance experiences a phase
change from solid to liquid by absorbing heat. At 0oC the ice absorbed heat to change
in to liquid. The transformation from ice to water was so due to an increase in
temperature which led to weakening of intermolecular forces thus causing
transformation from one form of matter to another.
The principle of conservation of energy which state that heat lost by hotter objects
must equal heat gained by colder objects is very essential in determining the specific
heat capacity and latent heat of fusion and vaporization.
The expected value of latent heat of fusion of ice is around 79.5cal/g. From the
experiment, the latent heat of fusion was found to be 77.5cal/g with an error of 2.51%.
It was therefore deduced that, there was unwanted loss of heat energy to the
surrounding. Some of the possible errors were;
Possible sources of errors.
Unwanted heat loss to the surrounding.
Heat gained by the calorimeter was neglected.
Parallax error/human error might had been resulted while taking measurements of
temperature and mass.
Instrument error. The measuring instruments were wrongly calibrated and
imperfection system set up.
The water used might have contained some impurities.
Possible solutions.
The calorimeter was insulated by adding a lid to prevent excessive heat loss to the
surrounding area.
The heat gained by the calorimeter was accounted.
The readings were taken at eye level.
Ensured the system was perfectly set up and the measuring instruments well
calibrated.
Pure water was used
Conclusion.
Following the discussion and analysis above it was verified that the value of latent heat of
fusion of ice is approximately 79.5kcal/g = 79.5cal/g
AUSTIN BODI OUMA SCT-253-040/2021 APCS
Reference
1. Monk, P., & Wadsö, I. (1968). A flow micro reaction calorimeter. Acta chem.
scand, 22(6), 1842-1852.
2. O'neill, M. J. (1964). The Analysis of a Temperature-Controlled Scanning
Calorimeter. Analytical Chemistry, 36(7), 1238-1245.
3. Malyshev, V. M., Mil'ner, G. A., Shibakin, V. F., & Sorkin, E. L. (1986). Automatic
low-temperature calorimeter. Instrum. Exp. Tech.(Engl. Transl.);(United
States), 28(6 PT 2).
4. Lab manual.
