A 100 gram block of copper is heated to 100 C a... - SS2 Physics Heat and Thermodynamics Question
A 100 gram block of copper is heated to 100°C and then placed in a calorimeter containing 200 grams of water at 20°C. The final temperature of the mixture is 25°C. What is the specific heat capacity of copper? The specific heat capacity of water is 4.18 J/g°C.
In this case, we can use the principle of conservation of energy. The heat lost by the copper is equal to the heat gained by the water.
Q(copper) = Q(water)
m(copper) x c(copper) x ΔT(copper) = m(water) x c(water) x ΔT(water)
100 g x c(copper) x (25°C - 100°C) = 200 g x 4.18 J/g°C x (25°C - 20°C)
-75 c(copper) = 200 g x 4.18 J/g°C x 5°C
c(copper) = - (200 g x 4.18 J/g°C x 5°C) / 75
c(copper) ≈ - 55.73 J/g°C
Note: The negative sign indicates that heat was lost by the copper.
Add your answer
No responses