Answer to Question #312919 in Physical Chemistry for nickname

Question

During an experiment to find the enthalpy change for the reaction between zinc and copper sulfate solution a student recorded the temperature of the copper sulfate solution for two minutes. She then added the zinc and continued to record the temperature whilst stirring the solution in the 'coffee cup' calorimeter. She plotted a graph of her data. What value should she use for ΔT when calculating her result?

Answer 1

Zn + CuSO₄ = ZnSO₄ + Cu;

Value the $\Delta$ T as: Final temperature (after full interaction of Zinc and Copper sulfate, the temperature does not change; also, after the end of the reaction with the addition of excess zinc, the temperature will not change) - initial temperature (T0).