Ammonium Nitrate Case

I am writing to you to give you information about what compound is best for a cold pack and why. In a cold pack, what you want is an endothermic reaction, in which heat is absorbed, and not an exothermic reaction, in which heat is released. After researching and testing multiple compounds, I have concluded that Ammonium Nitrate is the best compound for a cold pack.

One of the most important factors in choosing a compound for a cold pack is how cold it will get, because of this, Calcium Chloride is a bad choice for a cold pack as it is an exothermic reaction and releases heat. On the other hand, Ammonium Nitrate had the largest drop in temperature, with a drop of 9.6° celsius. This is good for a cold pack as a cold pack is supposed to get cold, hence the name, and if it doesn’t, no one will buy your product. Furthermore, how long it stays cold is just as important as how cold it gets. Ammonium Nitrate stayed cold for 6 minutes before the temperature started rising. In comparison, Potassium Nitrate only stayed cold for 3 minutes before the temperature began to rise. This is …show more content…
Ammonium Nitrate is not the most expensive compound at only $17.95 per 500g making it a good choice for manufacturers. In comparison, Calcium Chloride, the compound which exhibited an exothermic reaction, is priced at $20.95 per 500g. This makes Ammonium Nitrate a better choice for manufacturers as they probably don’t want to pay $20.95 for a compound. On the other hand, Potassium Nitrate is cheaper than Ammonium Nitrate at $16.85 per 500g, yet it still is not the best choice despite being the cheapest. Potassium Nitrate, for $1.10 less, does half the job of Ammonium Nitrate, staying cold for only 3 minutes and only dropping 5.6° celsius in temperature. This means a lower quality cold pack, which is not what people look to buy when they shop for a cold