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Unit 5 - Organic Chemistry

• Chapter 9 Hydrocarbons from Petroleum
• Chapter 10 Hydrocarbon Derivations, Organic Reactions, and Petrochemicals

Unit 6 - Chemical Energy

• Chapter 11 Enthalpy Change
• Chapter 12 Explaining Chemical Changes

Unit 7 Electrochemistry

• Chapter 13 Redox Reactions
• Chapter 14 Electrochemical Cells

Unit 8 Chemical Equilibrium Focusing on Acid-Base Systems

• Chapter 15 Equilibrium Systems
• Chapter 16 Equilibrium in Acid-Base Systems

Chapter 11 Enthalpy Change

Energy Conversion and the Laws of Thermodynamics
Wisconsin K-12 Energy Education Program provides and easy-to-understand summary of the basic concepts.

Chapter 11 Enthalpy Change

Section 11.1 Energy Demands and Sources

Career Connection - Environmental Auditor (page 8)

Many electricity-generating power plants have significant environmental impacts: physical, chemical, esthetic, thermal, and so on. Environmental auditors are employed to monitor these impacts, and to ensure that they are minimized to within acceptable levels. What kinds of impacts would environmental auditors look for in Alberta's electricity generation plants? How would they train and qualify for this work? Who employs environmental auditors?

Health, Safety and Environment Review, 03
ATCO is an electricity generating company in Alberta. They monitor their performance internally by performing many kinds of audits, including environmental audits.

Canadian Environmental Certification Approvals Board
The CECAB website provides relevant information on the career of Environmental Auditor, as well as a profile of someone in the business.

Case Study Questions (page 10)

Question 5

What is the one-tonne challenge? What are some reasons for meeting this challenge?

One-Tonne Challenge
The One-Tonne Challenge asks you to reduce your annual greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by one tonne. How? Use less energy. Conserve water and resources. Reduce waste.

The One-Tonne Challenge for Youth
This site is for youth, and shows how we can change the way we travel, eat, shop, and live to reduce our emissions by a fifth.

Section 11.1 Questions (pages 11-12)

Question 1

(a) Convert the Canadian energy production into a percentage of the total for each fuel type for the latest year provided.

(b) Display these percentages as a pie chart.

(a) Go to the Statistics Canada Web site and calculate the percentage of the production of each fuel type that is exported from Canada.

(b) Display these percentages as a bar graph.

Canadian Energy Production by Fuel Type
Recent data are on the Statistics Canada Web site.

Question 3

For the latest year listed, what are the percentages of use by the sectors listed?

Question 4

Create a line graph for the total energy use over the years for which data are provided.

Question 5

Create a line graph for residential use over the years for which data are provided.

Question 6

Go to the Statistics Canada Web site and obtain the breakdown of residential use by fuel type.

(a) What percentage of residential energy use is from natural gas?

(b) Quote three other statistics that you can extract from the data. Be sure to cite your sources.

Energy Supply and Demand
Recent data are on the Statistics Canada Web site.

Question 11

Energy consumers were briefly excited when successful "cold fusion" was announced by two scientists in 1989. Successful cold fusion would represent an inexpensive, clean, readily available source of energy. Do some library research or search the Internet to learn more about the cold fusion experiments.

(a) Were the two scientists empiricists or theoreticians?

(b) Were they qualified to make theoretical interpretations of their experimental work?

(c) Are there cold-fusion research programs still being funded? If so, where?

(d) Evaluate your research strategies.

Cold Fusion Research
The Energy Research Advisory Board to the United States Department of Energy released this report in 1999, acknowledging that, while the majority of respected scientists believe that the "cold fusion" claims were invalid, there are still a few who believe that there might be some merit to the original - now discredited - research.

Observation of Nuclear Fusion Driven by a Pyroelectric Crystal
The University of California in Los Angeles' Department of Physics and Astronomy reports that research into cold fusion is ongoing, and yielding some interesting results. This UCLA page links to the 2005 article in the journal Nature .

Question 12

The caption for Figure 3 (page 9) says that these cars are "true zero-emission vehicles." Consider this claim. Research the environmental effects of water vapour. Think about the research and production involved in developing such vehicles. Write or present a brief rebuttal or supporting statement for the "zero-emissions" claim.

A Student's Guide to Alternative Fuel Vehicles
This Web site discusses whether hydrogen-powered cars will be the ZEVs (Zero-Emission Vehicles) of the future. There is a link at the bottom of the page to "Hydrogen - a very special type of gas," that provides more information on where the hydrogen might come from.

Hydrogen FAQs from FuelCells.org
These answers address questions about the amount of energy required to create hydrogen. The term "well-to-wheel" is used to compare the total quantity of energy used to use a car, powered by different types of fuel.

Using Solar Energy to Decompose Zinc Oxide
psi.net suggests an alternative way to decompose water to release useable hydrogen.

Section 11.2 Energy Demands and Sources

Web Activity: Thermal Insulation (page 18)

Living in Alberta in the winter involves dressing for the weather. Investigate what technological "advances" have been made by chemists creating synthetic materials. Compare these modern materials with traditional materials, such as animal skins used for footwear and warm clothing.

Pulaarvik Kablu Friendship Centre
This Nunavut site has lots on information on the traditional way of making and caring for clothing in the far north. It also links to other useful sites.

Glenbow Musuem
The Glenbow Museum in Calgary has photographs and information on many of its exhibits, including clothing from several different Aboriginal peoples.

Web Activity: A Neutralization Simulation - SIR Caloric (page 20)

The purpose of this activity is to use a calorimetry computer model to look for a pattern in the evidence for energy being produced for different acid-base reactions. For efficiency, the temperature change for a wide assortment of reactions is used to look for the pattern. No other calculation is required. Keep all variables, other than changing a reactant, constant. Which reactants produce a greater or lesser change in temperature? There are several patterns; find at least one.

Section 11.2 Questions (page 22)

Question 12

Research the technological applications of propane and butane. Identify the chemical properties of each that make these appropriate technologies for each of these hydrocarbons.

Uses of Hydrocarbons
ScienceIQ is a site for young people to brush up on their science knowledge.

Summary of the Uses and Properties of Hydrocarbons
This concise table provides the basic information about many hydrocarbons.

Section 11.4 Hess' Law

Explore an Issue: Alternative Energy Sources and Technologies (pages 35-36)

Within small groups, research the pros and cons of using public money to fund bio-based versus fossil-fuel-based energy technology.

What is Biomass Energy?
Centre for Energy's page about biomass attempts to be unbiased.

Energy Future Coalition
Not surprisingly, the Bioenergy and Agriculture Working Group are strongly in favour of research funding for bioenergy.

Epcor: Renewable Sources
Epcor's site describes several green energy options in Alberta.

Weighing in on Renewable Energy Efficiency
Geotimes' article has a point of view, but nevertheless presents the various sides of the argument.

CANMET Funding Programs
Natural Resources Canada already has many funding programs in place for energy research.

Section 11.5 Molar Enthalpies of Formation

Question 7

There is a whitish-gray mountain near Exshaw, AB from which limestone is mined. This limestone is then thermally decomposed into lime and carbon dioxide. Some of the lime is then slaked--the lime is reacted with water to produce slaked lime. Limestone, lime, and slaked lime all have important technological applications.

(f) List some further technological applications of lime and slaked lime.

What is Lime?
Graymont, an Alberta lime products company, has a very informative website. Click around to find the applications of lime.

New Markets for Praxair's Carbide Lime
A readable article describes innovative uses for an old product.

Chapter 11 Review (pages 47-49)

Question 28

Choose an "alternative" fuel to research. Select and integrate information (including graphs, tables, and graphics) from several sources. Your information should illustrate at least three perspectives on the use of this fuel. Decide on the target audience and present your findings attractively and persuasively.

Alternative Fuels Initiatives
Transport Canada lists and describes a variety of alternative fuels to get you started.

Canadian Renewable Fuels Association
You will find information on several renewable fuels by clicking on the links at the top of this association's web page.

Petro-Canada Alternative Fuels
One of the biggest gas retailers in the company is now promoting alternative fuels.

Question 30

Thermal-electric power stations burn coal (various types), fuel oil (heavy and light), natural gas, or wood to produce steam to drive a turbine and generator. Express the efficiency of converting the available chemical energy into electrical energy as a percentage. The Statistics Canada publication Human Activity and the Environment provides the data in Table 2.

(a) Analyze the data in Table 2 (or obtain more recent data) to find any trends or other insights.

(b) What other non-combustible energy sources can be used to produce steam in a power station?

Human Activity and the Environment: annual statistics
While this document is not freely available to the general public, your school may have arranged access for you. An electronic or print copy can be ordered on-line.

Alternatively, you might be able to find a paper copy of the following Statistics Canada documents:

•  Statistics Canada, Electric Power Generation, Transmission and Distribution , Catalogue no. 57-202-XPB, Ottawa.