What is the enthalpy change for this reaction?

Question

When 50 mL of 1.00 M  was added to 50 mL of 1.00 M NaOH in a coffee-cup calorimeter, the temperature of the resulting solution increased by 4.5 . The enthalpy change for the neutralization is

a. Positive

b. Negative

C. Cannot Determine

D. Indicates that the solution absorbs heat from the surroundings

I think the answer is A.

Answer 1

Curious as to why you think the answer is A? It would help if you explained how you arrived at that conclusion. But alas, that is an incorrect answer.

The temperature of the solution INCREASED, meaning the reaction taking place is EXOTHERMIC. Whenever a reaction is exothermic, we assign a negative value to the ∆H (change in enthalpy). So, in this case we have a -∆H.

The answer would be B