Specific heat

Specific heat

The purpose of this activity is to observe each material of nature which indicates how substances change temperature in a different way at adding the same heat amount.

Required materials

• Scale

• 3 cubes of different materials (such as steel, aluminum, copper) with the same mass, around 50g each one

• 1 250ml beaker

• 1 bottle of alcohol powder or Bunsen burner

• 1 tripod or universal sport

• 1 laboratory pliers

• 1 asbestos clothing

• 100ml of water

• 2 mercury thermometers

Procedure

1. Check that the three cubes of different materials have the same initial temperature (T1)

2. Pour water in a beaker. Place the tripod and put the beaker on the asbestos clothing.

3. Light the alcohol powder or burner heat the water until it reaches a temperature of 50°C. Take the thermometer from above, and do the same in in the next steps when you have to take temperature. Put on your heat source (alcohol or burner)

4. Use pliers to place the cubes, one by one into the beaker.

5. After place each cube into water, wait for temperature decreases 30°C. take it off using the pliers, measure its temperature with another thermometer and register it in the following table (T2)

Material

T1

T2

M

Q

C

6. Repeat the procedure for the other two cubes.

Analysis

As you register the temperatures, clearly you have noticed when cubes get the same heat amount, these ones did not reach the same temperature, what means that a physics property exist in different materials that represent the necessary heat amount to get a temperature change of 1°C, called specific heat.

1. Order the material form minor to major according to temperature they have reached out of water.

2. What materials reached the highest temperature, does it require a bigger heat amount to do it?

Explain

3. Calculate the heat amount that each cube got from hot water mass contained in the beaker 30°C. Use the following formula

Q=mCΔt

In this expression, C is the specific heat of water, m is the water mass contained in the beaker and Δt the water temperature change.

4. Now, using the same formula, find the specific heat of each one of the materials. Register your results in table.

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