In: Chemistry
For a neutralization reaction, would you expected the magnitude of heat transfer (q) to increase, decrease, or stay the same if the concentration of only the acid were doubled? Why?
The neutralization reaction takes place between acid and bases when they react with each other to form salt and water.
For example HCl + NaOH -> NaCl + H2O
The heat produced is due to the reaction between HCl molecules and NaOH molecules.
Suppose that we have taken equal volumes of 1M HCl and 1M NaOH to react and produce q amount of heat.
If we double the concentration of HCl we will make it 2M HCl but after the reaction of 1M HCl there will be no NaOH left for this extra HCl to react with and thus no reaction will take place with these extra HCl molecules and thus no extra heat will be produced.