Physical Chemistry Third Edition

(C. Jardin) #1

2.7 Calculation of Enthalpy Changes of a Class of Chemical Reactions 87


In a mixture of ideal gases, each substance behaves as though the others were absent. If
all substances are either pure liquids or solids or ideal gases the enthalpy of the system
is a sum of contributions of the separate substances

H

∑s

i 1

niHm(i) (2.7-8)

whereHm(i) is the molar enthalpy (enthalpy per mole) of substance numberiandni
is the amount (in moles) of that substance.
Consider a chemical reaction that begins with reactants in equilibrium or metastable
states at some particular temperature and pressure and ends with products in equilibrium
states at the same temperature and pressure. The enthalpy change of the reaction is
given by

∆HH(final)−H(initial)

∑s

i 1

∆niHm(i) (2.7-9)

where∆niis the change in the amount of substance numberi. We say thatone mole
of reactionoccurs if

∆niνi (2.7-10)

for each substance. That is, a number of moles of a product appears that is equal to that
product’s stoichiometric coefficient, and a number of moles of a reactant disappear that
are equal to the magnitude of its stoichiometric coefficient. For 1 mol of reaction,

∆H

∑s

i 1

νiHm(i) (2.7-11)

We use dimensionless stoichiometric coefficients. One can think of the units ofνi
as moles of substanceiper mole of reaction. The enthalpy change in Eq. (2.7-11)
has the units of J mol−^1 (meaning joules per mole of the reaction as written). If all
stoichiometric coefficients are doubled,∆Hfor the reaction doubles. When we give a
value of∆Hfor a reaction, it is always for 1 mol of the reaction as the reaction equation
is written.
The molar enthalpy of any substance depends on its state. Thestandard stateof
a liquid or solid substance is specified to be the pure substance at a fixed pressure
of exactly 1 bar (100,000 Pa), which we denote byP◦. The standard state for a gas
is defined to be the corresponding ideal gas at pressureP◦. The difference between
the molar enthalpy of a real gas at 1 bar pressure and the corresponding ideal gas at
1 bar is numerically very small, but we will discuss this difference in a later chapter.
If substance numberiis in its standard state, its molar enthalpy is denoted byHm◦(i).
Astandard-state reactionis one in which all substances are in their standard states
before and after the reaction. The enthalpy change for a standard-state reaction is
denoted by∆H◦. The standard-state pressure was at one time defined to equal 1 atm
(101,325 Pa). The difference in numerical values is small, and the formulas involving
P◦are the same with either choice. For highly accurate work, one must determine
which standard pressure was used for an older set of data.
Actual values for standard-state molar enthalpies are not available because an arbi-
trary constant can be added to each internal energy without any physical effect. We
use thestandard-state enthalpy change of formationto calculate∆H◦for chemical
reactions. The standard-state enthalpy change of formation of substanceiis denoted
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