Question

When $10ml$ of strong acid is added to $1ml$ of an alkali, the temperature rises by $5{}^\circ C$. If $100ml$ of the same acid is mixed with $100ml$of the same base, the temperature rise would be:
A. $5{}^\circ C$
B. $50{}^\circ C$
C. $20{}^\circ C$
D. Cannot be predicted

Answer 1

Hint: Acids are generally those substances which are capable of donating a proton i.e. hydrogen atom to another substance while bases are those substances which are able to accept a hydrogen ion from an acid.

Complete Step by step solution: Acids are generally sour in taste and it turns blue litmus paper to red. Bases are bitter in taste and turn red litmus paper into red. A base that can be dissolved in water is known by the term alkali and when these substances chemically react with acids they form salts. If we mix equal amounts of a strong acid and a strong base then two chemicals essentially cancel out each other and produce salt and water. Mixing equal amounts of a strong acid with strong base results in a neutral solution whose pH value remains 7 and this type of reactions are known as neutralization reactions. If an equal amount of strong acid and an equal amount of alkali are reacting with each other then the rise in temperature will remain the same. This is because of the fact that the amount of energy released per gram will be the same.

Hence we can say that option A is the correct answer.

Note: Now if we add more acid than base in any reaction then not all of the acid would react and as result products would be salt, water, and leftover acid therefore the solution would still remain acidic and if we add more base as compared to acid in the solution the products would be leftover base and the final solution would be basic.