Consumer products known as self-heating foods or self-heating beverages enable food or drink contents to be heated when a chemical reaction or solution process of a salt in water takes place. A variety of these beverages, including different types of coffee (plain, with milk, or cappuccino), hot chocolate, and tea, are easily found at gas stations, airports, and highway rest stops in European countries. In this activity students investigate the heat produced by the dissolution process of calcium chloride in water and use that information to discuss how self-heating containers work to warm food and drink products. By calculating the theoretical change in temperature resulting from the dissolution process of a salt in water and comparing that change to the observed temperature, students can design their own self-heating beverage container.
Supplement
A cutaway diagram of self-heating containers with labels showing how the containers work
Pinto, Gabriel; Oliver-Hoyo, Maria T.; Llorens-Molina, Juan Antonio. J. Chem. Educ.2009, 86, 1280A.
Keywords
Applications of Chemistry; Calorimetry / Thermochemistry; Consumer Chemistry; Demonstrations; First-Year Undergraduate / General; Food Science; Hands-On Learning / Manipulatives; High School / Introductory Chemistry; Inquiry-Based / Discovery Learning; Physical Properties; Problem Solving / Decision Making; Public Understanding / Outreach; Solutions / Solvents; Thermodynamics; Water / Water Chemistry
History
Created:
Last Updated:
9/16/2009
9/25/2009
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