🔥 Heat of Combustion Calculator
Estimate the heat released during combustion from a calorimeter’s heat capacity and the temperature change it measured, then see it per gram and per mole.
What heat of combustion measures
The heat of combustion is the amount of energy released when a substance burns completely in oxygen. It is commonly measured in a bomb calorimeter, a sealed, insulated container with a known heat capacity that absorbs the heat released and shows up as a temperature rise.
The formula
Total heat released is q = C · ΔT, where C is the calorimeter’s heat capacity (energy needed to raise its temperature by 1°C) and ΔT is the observed temperature increase. Dividing by the sample’s mass gives the heat of combustion per gram, and converting the mass to moles (mass ÷ molar mass) gives the molar heat of combustion, the value usually reported in reference tables.
Note: This assumes the calorimeter is well-insulated and its heat capacity value already accounts for the whole system (bomb, water, and calorimeter). For general chemistry education and lab-planning purposes.