Calorimetry & Specific Heat Lab Community
Questions, answers and tips from people who use the Calorimetry & Specific Heat Lab. Drop a hot metal into water, plot the temperatures and calculate the specific heat capacity..
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From the tool guide: common questions about Calorimetry & Specific Heat Lab
The items below are not posts by community members. They come from the written guide for this tool and are here to get a conversation started. Use “Ask a follow-up” to open a thread about any of them.
How do you find the specific heat of a metal with a calorimeter?
Use m_metal × c × (T_metal − T_final) = m_water × 4.18 × (T_final − T_water) and solve for c.
From the tool guide Ask a follow-upWhy do we ignore the cup?
A coffee cup is a good insulator with a small heat capacity, so nearly all the heat goes into the water.
From the tool guide Ask a follow-upKey ideas
- Heat lost by the hot metal equals heat gained by the water.
- q = m × c × ΔT.
- Metals with a low specific heat change temperature quickly.
- Both temperatures meet at a final temperature.
Things to try
- Drop aluminium, then lead, and compare the final temperature.
- Try the mystery metal and calculate c.
- Double the water mass and predict the final temperature.
Where this is used
Nutrition labels (calories), engine design, cooking and climate models all rely on calorimetry.
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