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Experimental Determination of latent heat of fusion of ice

Article · July 2022

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Yousef Dessouki
The German University in Cairo
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June 5,2022

Abstract
The purpose of this experiment is to measure the latent heat of fusion of ice. A sensitive
heater, temperature sensors, and a calorimeter were used in the experiment. A
percentage error of 7.36% was achieved in the experiment.
Introduction
Thermodynamics was first developed under the assumption that a material termed caloric leaked
from a hot object into a cool one when the two were in touch. Benjamin Thompson, who would
later become Count Rumford, proposed that the causal agent in motion was energy during the
beginning of the 19th century. In this experiment, the latent fusion of ice was measured using
energy conservation theorems. According to the rule of conservation of energy, energy cannot be
created or destroyed, hence the change in energy of an isolated system is equal to zero. In other
words, the system's starting energy must match its final energy; there can never be a net gain or
loss in the system's overall energy.Pure water undergoes a phase transition at 0 ◦C. When ice melts,
heat energy is absorbed to break the molecular bonds to change its phase from solid to liquid
without any change in temperature. A container of ice water in thermal equilibrium will remain at
0 ◦C until all the ice has melted. Only after this will any heat absorbed cause an increase in
temperature. We define the latent heat of fusion of ice Lf as the amount of heat required to melt a
unit mass of ice

Experimental Procedure
At first, the room's temperature,Ti, and the calorimeter's inner aluminum cup's mass ,mi,were
measured. After that half of the inner cup of the calorimeter was filled with water and its mass was
measured, mi+water. Using, mi+water and mi, the mass of the water could be found out by subtracting
the two masses from each other,mwater. Using the sensitive heater, the water inside the calorimeter
was heated. The water’s temperature was being measured throughout the heating experiment, using
a temperature sensor. The sensor was synchronized to the heater. Once the water temperature was
8 degrees Celsius above the room temperature, the heater automatically switched off. The
temperature of water was recorded, Ti+water.An ice cube, at temperature of 0 degree Celsius, was
gently inserted in the calorimeter. The calorimeter was then closed, and the temperature of the
water was measured every 10 seconds, using a temperature sensor. When the temperature reached
its lowest constant value, the temperature of the water was recorded as Tf. The total mass of the
cup was measured as mi+water+ice.The mass of the ice was calculated as mice.

Theory
To change a solid or liquid's internal thermal energy and subsequently its temperature, heat must
be applied to (or removed from) the medium. This is known as specific heat capacity. As a result
of the heat movement, the temperature changes, and the relationship between the two is provided
by

Q = mcΔT 1

2
where Q is heat, m is mass of the material, c is specific heat of the material, and ΔT is the change in
temperature.

Heat flow can also result in a phase change when a material is in a phase transition. For instance,
in this experiment, adding heat to ice at 0°C causes it to transition from a solid to a liquid phase.
Latent heat of fusion is the term for this. Given below is the relationship between the heat flow
and the ensuing phase shift.

Q = mLf 2

where Q is heat, m is mass, and Lf is the latent heat of fusion.

Analysis
Data Value
The specific heat capacity of water / J/g °C 4.184
The specific heat capacity of aluminum 0.89
(material of the inner cup of the calorimeter) /
J/g °C
Ti/degree Celsius 22.1
mi/g 30
mi+water/g 68.2
mwater/g 38.2
Ti+water/degree Celsius 30.1
Tf/degree Celsius 1.1
mi+water+ice/g 85.7
mice/g 17.5

First, the total amount of heat lost be computed using equations 1 and 2 in order to get the latent
heat of fusion of ice.The heat lost is calculated by summing up the amount of heat lost from both
the cup and water . This gives:
ℎ𝑒𝑎𝑡 𝑙𝑜𝑠𝑡 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑤𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑟 = 𝑐𝑤𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑟 × 𝑚𝑤𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑟 × (𝑇𝑓 − 𝑇𝑖+𝑤𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑟 )

4.184 × 38.2 × −29 = −4635𝐽

ℎ𝑒𝑎𝑡 𝑙𝑜𝑠𝑡 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑐𝑢𝑝 = 𝑐𝑎𝑙𝑢𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑢𝑚 × 𝑚𝑖 × (𝑇𝑓 − 𝑇𝑖+𝑤𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑟 )

3
 0.89 × 30 × −29 = −774𝐽
The total heat lost is
−774 + −4635 = −5409𝐽

The negative sign represents that heat has been lost.

The latent heat of fusion of ice, 𝐿f, will be calculated by using the equation;

Qgained= mLf = - Qlost.

5409
= 309𝐽/𝑔
17.5

Conclusions
The theoretical value for latent heat of fusion of ice is 333.55 J/g. The difference between the
theoretical result and the experimental result is
|309 − 333.55|
× 100 = 7.36%
333.55

Finally, we speculate upon sources of error in this experiment. The main source of error is likely
to be heat loss from the calorimeter. The usage of better insulation methods could reduce such
error. Also repeating the experiments 3 times and taking an average, could lead to more accurate
results.

References
[1] L. Campbell, D. Spector, and T. Allen, Physics 150 Laboratory Manual, p. 67.

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