Background Research

Driving Question: How does temperature affect the crystal formation of sodium acetate in hand warmers?

Topic:

• • Supercooled solutions

  • Temperature

  • Sodium Acetate

Principles: This experiment examines how supersaturated sodium acetate reacts with temperature to crystallize. The scientific concept for this procedure is an exothermic change of state from a liquid to a solid (latent heat of fusion).

Key Words/Units:

• • Joules ( J ): units of energy

  • grams ( g )

Formulas: In order to measure how the latent heat of fusion for the formation of the sodium acetate crystals, the measurement is joules/grams. This says that for every g of crystal formed, 264-289 J is released.

Source(s):

"How Do You Get Heat from a Supercooled Solution? Explore the ..." 2009. 20 Sep. 2013 <http://www.sciencebuddies.org/science-fair-projects/project_ideas/Chem_p085.shtml>