Skip to main content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Official websites use .gov
A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.

Secure .gov websites use HTTPS
A lock ( ) or https:// means you’ve safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

Heat Capacity of NaNO3(aq) in Stable and Supercooled States. Ion Association in the Supercooled Solution.

Published

Author(s)

R W. Carter, Donald G. Archer

Abstract

The heat capacity of NaNO3(aq) from 0.1 to 10 mol.kg-1 was measured from 285 to 236 K, or lower temperatures, at 0.1 Mpa, with a differential scanning calorimeter (DSC). A cooling scan method permitted supercooling of the aqueous solutions well below their normal freezing points. The uncertainties of temperature calibration and instrument heat calibration of the DSC were 0.08 K and 0.3% respectively. The heat capacity of dilute NaNO3(aq) increases with decreasing temperature below 270 K, qualitatively similar to the effect observed for water and for NaCl(aq). At larger concentrations of NaNO3(aq), this behavior reverses and the heat capacity only decreases with decreasing temperature qualitatively similar to the behavior observed for concentrated NaCl(aq). The present measurements and thermodynamic properties derived therefrom are compared to previous thermodynamic properties for NaCl(aq). This comparison shows that the anomalous effects for the two solutes are quite similar and suggests that the effects observed are general for strong univalent electrolytes. A multiple equilibrium model was fitted to selected measurements for NaNO3(aq) to determine whether there are significant changes in ion association in the supercooled solution.
Citation
Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics
Volume
2
Issue
No. 22

Keywords

heat capacity, ion association, sodium nitrate, supercooled solutions, thermodynamics

Citation

Carter, R. and Archer, D. (2000), Heat Capacity of NaNO<sub>3</sub>(aq) in Stable and Supercooled States. Ion Association in the Supercooled Solution., Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics (Accessed May 7, 2024)
Created November 1, 2000, Updated February 19, 2017