Relating delta T to volume/molarity

[Jaden Haskins 2E]

For one of the questions on Michael's week 4 worksheet, the question asks Which combination of solutions of HCl and NaOH will produce the largest ΔT? The answer options were a combination of volume and molarity, like 50 mL of 1 M HCl with 50 mL of 1 M NaOH. How do we find a change in temperature when we are just given volume and molarity?

[Jeffrey Doeve 2I]

Hi Jaden,
For this problem, the solution to find delta T is more conceptual than with actually calculations. First, we can rearrange q=mC(delta T) to delta T = q/(mC). From this, we can use our understanding of where m and q are in the equation to solve for the largest delta T. To get a large delta T, we want a small m(mass of water/denominator) so we want the solutions with the lowest combination of volumes(50 ml and 50 ml). Also, we want the combination with the highest amount of q(heat released), so we want high molar amounts of reactant(2M HCl and 2M NaOH). Hope this helps!

[Jaden Haskins 2E]

OH, that makes so much sense! Thank you for your helpful explanation!