Spontaneous Chemical Reactions 4 - Science Project and Research Application

The Windows application, Spontaneous Chemical Reactions 4, is a great application to help students do an exceptional science project, and also to perform scientific research. It was designed for advanced students in physics and chemistry, who possess basic knowledge of calculus. The following is the chemical reaction studied:

Ethane (g) + Oxygen (g) -------> Carbon Monoxide (g) + Water (g)

The chemical equation shows the formation of carbon monoxide and water by the reaction of the gases ethane and oxygen. The oxidation of carbon monoxide produces carbon dioxide. In the upper atmosphere, carbon dioxide reacts with water to create carbonic acid, one of the main ingredients in acid rain. Therefore, it is not only valuable knowledge, but also quite interesting, to investigate under what conditions the chemical reaction of methane and oxygen to make carbon monoxide and water is spontaneous, and at what temperatures is nonspontaneous. To those interested in learning how fast is the reaction taking place, that is a follow up project to do later.

For any temperature that is entered, the application calculates the entropy change in the universe, the Gibbs’ Free Energy, and the enthalpy change for the reaction. With these values, we can determine right away if the chemical reaction at the indicated temperature is spontaneous or nonspontaneous, and if it is exothermic or endothermic.

The great thing about this product is that it will save dozens of hours of hard work doing calculations. In addition, information is provided about how to present graphically the data collected.

This product includes a remarkable 15-page tutorial that explain in detail every single calculation that needs to be done for one temperature, including the two calculus integrations that have to be performed.

Again, this application is for computers using Windows 10 or newer.

Ceres-Science teacher support: science@ceressoft.net

For more information about many other products created by Ceres Science and available in TpT, please visit our web site:

https://science.ceressoft.net/tpt

https://science.ceressoft.net/chemistry