Specific Heat Capacity of a Metal
Specific Heat Capacity of a Metal
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 to the calorimeter
- Measure the temperature of the water (Tw)
- Measure the mass of the metal sample (mm). Metal is heated in a bunsen hot water bath.
- Record the temperature (Tm) 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 to the calorimeter and watch the temperature.
- Record the temperature (TF).