Specific Heat Lab Report

Joseph Amoah-Tetteh

September 18, 2016

Lab 2 Specific Heat

Purpose:

Purpose for the lab is explore and observe the transfer of heat from a piece of metal to its surroundings and quantify the amount of thermal energy transferred. The first law of thermodynamics states that energy cannot be created nor broken down. In this experiment, water is heated with a metal and placed into water at room temperature. The results will be the heat change between the metal and the water at room temperature explaining that energy cannot be created nor destroyed.

Introduction:

Specific heat is the heat required to raise the temperature of the unit mass of a given substance by a given amount. Specific heat is another physical property of matter. All matter has a temperature associated with it. The temperature of matter is a direct measure of the motion of the molecules: The greater the motion the higher the temperature:

Lab Data:

Room Temperature: 21.5 Celsius = 294.5 Kelvin

Mass of metal: 57 grams

Inner metal Cup + Stirrer Mass 67.2 grams

Inner metal Cup + Stirrer Mass + Water 250.3 grams

Room’s initial temperature is 22.4 Celsius

Boiling Temperature 88.1 Celsius

Final Temp of All Items 24.2 Celsius Calculations

Quantity Heat Equation: q = Quantity of Heat Transferred q = s x m x (Tf – Ti) s = Specific Heat g = Grams of Substance

Specific Heat Equation: Tf = Final Temperature s = ___q ___ Ti = Initial Temperature m x (Tf – Ti)

Specific Heat of Water = 4.184J

Sample 1 q = (4.184J)(57g)(22.4°C – 22.4°C) q = 235 J s = ___-235 ___

(1.33g)(21 C- 100 °C)

s = 2.023124