Bomb Calorimetry Activities

A bomb calorimeter generally consists of the following parts: a thick-walled steel "bomb" that contains a sample pan, ignition wire, and is generally filled with oxygen gas (although other gases can be used) a container of water around the bomb that acts as either a heat sink or source (this generally has a thermometer or thermocouple to measure temperature changes and a stirrer to help maintain uniform temperatures) often a secondary water jacket surrounds the container discussed above (this secondary jacket also contains a thermometer or thermocouple) and it is maintained at the same temperature as the interior container throughout the experiment an ignition switch that passes a small current through the ignition wire to initiate the reaction a gas cylinder to fill the bomb with gas (not shown) Thanks to Dr. Gary L. Bertrand from the University of Missouri-Rolla for the bomb calorimeter graphic.

Each bomb calorimeter differs from all others in its ability to absorb or release heat. The measure of a bomb calorimeter's heat absorbing properties is called its heat capacity. The heat capacity of each bomb calorimeter is determined experimentally. Before doing experiments, you will need to calibrate your bomb calorimeter. If you have already performed a calibration on your bomb calorimeter and know its heat capacity, you can proceed directly to the experiments page. However, if you need to learn more about this process and to perform the calibration, follow the "calibrate" link below.

General Directions . . . (a) get a worksheet, (b) calibrate your calorimeter, and (c) perform some experiments.
Be sure to take good notes . . . you will need to use information from some page on others!

Download a worksheet

Calibrate the calorimeter

Experiment with the calorimeter

Main Calorimetry page