exothermic vs endothermic [ENDORSED]

[Sophie Krylova 2J]

For calorimeter problems, is the water, the calorimeter, or the air (outside of the calorimeter) the surroundings?

[Leah Thomas 2E]

The water is considered the surroundings because that is where the system is happening inside.

[Cali Rauk1D]

calorimeters are always isolated systems as well because they cannot exchange matter or energy with its surroundings

[Christine Wastila 1H]

Calorimeters are not isolated systems. Bomb calorimeters are able to exchange heat with the surroundings, therefore classifying them as closed systems.

[Cynthia Tsang]

The calorimeter can also be apart of the surroundings, as some calorimeters absorb some of the heat released in the reaction. In general though, the water is the surrounding and whatever you're adding is the system.

[Evelyn L 1H]

That's why in problems with isolated systems we can use qice=-qwater

[Wenxin Fan 1J]

It depends on the context of the problem but water is considered the surroundings if something is placed in the water. However, the amount of energy absorbed by a calorimeter can be used to calculate heat released to the surroundings as well.

[Jesus Rodriguez 1J]

In most part problems, the water is usually seen as the surrounding but it's like the person above said, it all depends on what the question is describing