Hey guys, I'm hoping for help with an assignment I have.
We conducted a lab experiment to find the enthalpy of decomposition for sodium hydrogencarbonate using Hess's law.
I have a question that asks 'Why did you find the enthalpy change indirectly?'. Well.. I'm really not sure.. As far as I know sodium hydrogen carbonate is baking soda, and we regularly heat it to the level it needs to decompose in our ovens, so I can't imagine why we couldn;t just do it directly.
Maybe it's worth mention that we were originally meant to be using potassium hydrogencarbonate, but we run out so myself and others had to use sodium hydrogencarbonate instead. Does this make a big difference?
Also, I've been researching enthalpy level diagrams, and I think I just about understand them, but I don't get how I'm meant to fit 3 different chemical equations on one?
Reaction A: K2CO3 + 2HCl 2KCl + CO2 + H2O
Reaction B: KHCO3 + HCl KCl + CO2 + H2O
Reaction C: 2KHCO3 K2CO3+ CO2 + H2O
(Using A and B to find C)