Medical cold packs are used to relieve pain from several things such as arthritis and injuries. It is also known to reduce swelling by slowing down the blood flow to the injury. Cold packs are most regularly used by athletes or weight lifters who often strain their muscles. Inside these packs is water with a tube in the center which contains a type of salt. To activate this cold pack, the tube inside must be broken and shook so that it is mixed well with the water. This cooling effect sooths the injury immediately after being place on the affected area. The medical cold pack can be identified as a chemical system; more specifically one that absorbs heat from its surroundings, therefore it creates and endothermic reaction. If it had been the …show more content…
Firstly it is assumed that no heat is being transferred between the surroundings and the calorimeter. Secondly, we neglect any heat absorbed or released by the container. Lastly, we assume that the constant for the specific heat capacity is of pure water. This salt was mixed with water in an insulated container; in this case Styrofoam cups. The equation used to determine the molar enthalpy is Q=mc∆T, where Q is the heat energy measured in Joules, m is the mass of the substance, c is the specific heat constant, and ∆T is the total change in temperature. Specific heat capacity is the amount of energy used to raise the temperature of a substance by 1 degree. Every liquid has its own specific heat constant. Since water was used in the medical cold pack, the specific heat capacity of 4.18 J/g.C was used. The temperature before the reaction and after the reaction was taken to determine the total change in temperature. The amount of water in the cups should be relative to the amount of salt used in the reaction. The unknown salt which was used in the experiment is determined by calculating the values to solve for the molar enthalpy of the