c HEAT OF A NEUTRALIZATION REACTION Dissolve 40 g of sodium hydroxide pellets in water and make up to 500 mL This is a 2M solution Also prepare 500 mL of a 2M hydrochloric acid solution Leave the solutions to cool to room temperature Note the actual temperature of the solutions when cool Then add the acid to the base quite rapidly and stir with a thermometer Note the maximum temperature reached The increase of temperature should be about 13oC iii Since the volume of water has been doubled by adding one solution to the other the final solution contains 1 mole of OH aq ions which reacted with 1 mole of Haq ions to form 1 mole of water molecules We must assume that the specific heat of this moderately weak solution is the same as that of water