XI. Heats of dilution of concentrated solutions
Heats of dilution have been exhaustively studied by Prof. Julius Thomsen for a very large number of aqueous solutions.* His method chiefly consisted in taking some concentrated solution and diluting it considerably. The total amount of heat generated or absorbed in this process was thus found and quoted against the final concentration expressed in molecules of water to one molecule of solute. It is to be noted that during the process of dilution most of the thermal change occurs in the early stages, and that after the first ten molecules of water are added the total heat generated or absorbed increases but slightly. The probable reason for this procedure is, that the experimenter finishes the operation with a dilute solution, so that starting with various initial concentrations, he may need only a few specific heats of certain dilute solutions. It must be remembered that only the final .specific heat of the solution need be known in order to measure the heat generated.