CHEM 1003 Exp. 609 Connecting Concepts Question Natural gas, methane, is a fossi
ID: 1067628 • Letter: C
Question
CHEM 1003 Exp. 609 Connecting Concepts Question Natural gas, methane, is a fossil fuel used in the production of electrical energy, transportation, heating, etc. During the combustion process methane reacts with oxygen gas to produce carbon dioxide gas and water. This reaction is shown below. CH_4 + 2O_2 (g) CO_2(g) + 2H_2O (I) The heat of reaction (Delta H_rxn) for this process is -890 kJ/mol. Based on the calculated value of Delta H_rxn, for the neutralization reaction between sodium hydroxide and hydrochloric acid in this experiment, could we use similar neutralization reactions for energy production? Why or why not? Use other information from this experiment to help you support your argument (ex. volumes of materials, safety concerns, etc.).Explanation / Answer
The combustion reaction is
CH4(g) + 2O2(g) --> CO2(g) + H2O(l)
-890KJ / mole
The heat of neutralization = -55.8 KJ / equivalent
We can not use this reaction of energy production as
a) The neutralization reaction will evolve heat instantaneously, so in case of large production of heat there is risk assoicated with explosion.
b) The heat per gram equivalent is very low as compared to heat of combustion from methane
c) this will be costly process to produce heat (methane is cheap as compared to acids or base)
d) We can not use the large amount of heat like we can not use heat produced from a bomb.