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Wow Bao Steamer Heat Calculation: Heating Water and Making Steam

In a “wow bao” steaming setup, how much heat is required to heat 1.50 kg of water from 22.0 °C to 100.0 °C and then vaporize 0.250 kg of that water at 100.0 °C?

Subject: General Chemistry Chapter: Thermochemistry Topic: Heat Answer included
wow bao thermochemistry heat calorimetry specific heat of water heat of vaporization phase change boiling water
Accepted answer Answer included

Problem

The keyword “wow bao” is treated as a real-world steaming context: bao buns are commonly steamed by producing water vapor. A steamer contains 1.50 kg of liquid water initially at 22.0 °C. The water is heated to 100.0 °C, and then 0.250 kg of that water is converted to steam at 100.0 °C. Determine the total heat required.

Given (standard general chemistry values):

  • Specific heat of liquid water: \(c = 4.184\,\text{J}\,\text{g}^{-1}\,^\circ\text{C}^{-1}\)
  • Molar heat of vaporization of water at 100 °C: \(\Delta H_\text{vap} = 40.7\,\text{kJ}\,\text{mol}^{-1}\)
  • Molar mass of water: \(M = 18.015\,\text{g}\,\text{mol}^{-1}\)

Assumptions: heat losses to the environment are neglected; heating of the steamer hardware and the bao is neglected; steam remains at 100.0 °C (no superheating).

Solution

1) Split the process into two energy parts

  1. Warm liquid water from 22.0 °C to 100.0 °C: use \(q = m c \Delta T\).
  2. Vaporize 0.250 kg of water at 100.0 °C: use \(q = n \Delta H_\text{vap}\).

2) Heat required to warm the liquid water

Convert mass to grams and compute the temperature change:

\[ m = 1.50\,\text{kg} = 1500\,\text{g}, \qquad \Delta T = 100.0 - 22.0 = 78.0\,^\circ\text{C}. \]

Apply \(q = m c \Delta T\):

\[ q_\text{heat} = (1500\,\text{g})\left(4.184\,\frac{\text{J}}{\text{g}\cdot^\circ\text{C}}\right)(78.0\,^\circ\text{C}) = 4.89528\times 10^5\,\text{J} = 4.90\times 10^2\,\text{kJ}. \]

3) Heat required to vaporize part of the water

Convert the vaporized mass to moles:

\[ m_\text{vap} = 0.250\,\text{kg} = 250\,\text{g}, \qquad n = \frac{m_\text{vap}}{M} = \frac{250\,\text{g}}{18.015\,\text{g}\,\text{mol}^{-1}} = 13.88\,\text{mol}. \]

Use \(q = n\Delta H_\text{vap}\):

\[ q_\text{vap} = (13.88\,\text{mol})\left(40.7\,\frac{\text{kJ}}{\text{mol}}\right) = 5.65\times 10^2\,\text{kJ}. \]

4) Total heat required

\[ q_\text{total} = q_\text{heat} + q_\text{vap} = (4.90\times 10^2\,\text{kJ}) + (5.65\times 10^2\,\text{kJ}) = 1.05\times 10^3\,\text{kJ}. \]
Process Expression Value Units
Warm liquid water (22.0 °C → 100.0 °C) \(q_\text{heat} = m c \Delta T\) \(4.90\times 10^2\) kJ
Vaporize 0.250 kg at 100.0 °C \(q_\text{vap} = n \Delta H_\text{vap}\) \(5.65\times 10^2\) kJ
Total (“wow bao” steam energy) \(q_\text{total} = q_\text{heat} + q_\text{vap}\) \(1.05\times 10^3\) kJ

Visualization

Heat required to heat water and vaporize some into steam A stacked bar showing the energy to warm water to 100 degrees Celsius and the additional energy to vaporize part of the water. 0 250 500 750 1000 1250 Energy (kJ) heat: 490 kJ vap: 565 kJ total: 1050 kJ “wow bao” steaming energy split
The lower segment represents heating liquid water to 100.0 °C, and the upper segment represents the additional heat needed to convert 0.250 kg of water into steam at 100.0 °C.

Final result

For the “wow bao” steaming setup, the total required heat is \(q_\text{total} \approx 1.05\times 10^3\,\text{kJ}\), with about \(4.90\times 10^2\,\text{kJ}\) for heating the water and about \(5.65\times 10^2\,\text{kJ}\) for vaporization.

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