Thermochemistry and Camping 1:
Measure the enthalpy of a reaction

You and a friend are hiking the Appalachian Trail when a storm comes through. You stop to eat, but find that all available firewood is too wet to start a fire. From your Chem 106 class you remember that heat is given off by some chemical reactions; if you could mix two solutions together to produce an exothermic reaction, you might be able to cook the food you brought along for the hike. Luckily, being the dedicated chemist that you are, you never go anywhere without taking along a couple chemical solutions, just for times like this. The Virtual Lab contains aqueous solutions of compounds X and Y of various concentrations. These compounds react to produces a new compound, Z, according to the reaction: X + Y --> Z The following activities will guide you in using this reaction to produce the heat needed to warm up your food 1) Use the virtual lab to measure the enthalpy of the reaction shown above. (Note: the the heat capacity of water is 4.184 J/g °C)