Specific Heat Capacity of a Metal
- Author:
- Luciano Troilo
How to Measure Specific Heat Capacity of a Metal
The specific heat capacity, often simply called specific heat, refers to the amount of heat ( joule or cal) required to cause a unit of mass (say a gram or a kilogram) to change its temperature by 1°C or 1°K.
Standard metric units are Joules/kilogram/Kelvin (J/kg/K). More commonly used units are J/g/°C or cal/g/°C.
- Add a known mass (mw) of the water, enough to cover metal sample, in the calorimeter
- Measure the temperature of the water (tw)
- Measure the mass of the metal sample (ms). Metal is heated in a bunsen hot water bath
- Record the temperature (ts) of the hot metal. (it is the same as the hot water)
- Use the tongs to carefully pick up the metal sample and transfer it QUICKLY to the calorimeter and watch the temperature - stirring a little until it stabilizes.
- Record the stable temperature (tc).