Final answer:
The enthalpy change for the combustion of 30.0 g of methanol is -680.112 kJ, indicating an exothermic reaction where heat is released to the surroundings.
Step-by-step explanation:
The enthalpy change for burning methyl alcohol (methanol, CH3OH) can be found using stoichiometry and the heat of combustion. Since methyl alcohol has a known heat of combustion of 727 kJ/mol, we will need to first determine how many moles of methanol 30.0 g represents.
The molar mass of methanol (CH3OH) is approximately 32.04 g/mol. To convert from grams to moles, we divide the mass of methanol by its molar mass:
30.0 g CH3OH * (1 mol CH3OH / 32.04 g CH3OH) = 0.936 mol CH3OH
Next, since the combustion of 1 mole of methanol releases 727 kJ of energy, the combustion of 0.936 mol would release:
0.936 mol CH3OH * (727 kJ/mol) = 680.112 kJ
Since this is an exothermic reaction, the sign of the enthalpy change (∆H) is negative, indicating that energy is being released to the surroundings. Thus, the enthalpy change for the burning of 30.0 g of methanol is -680.112 kJ. The sign of ∆H corresponds to the opposite of the sign for qsurr, the heat of the surroundings, because of the conservation of energy. Therefore, if ∆H is negative, qsurr would be positive, signifying that the surrounding environment has absorbed the released heat.