Question

These questions pertain to a lab done on calorimetry. A block of metal was heated in a hot water bath and transferred to styrofoam cup 2/3 full of room temperature water.

1. If the hot metal had been very wet when it was transferred into the calorimeter, how would the experimental value of the specific heat capacity have been changed? Explain.

2. Explain, on an atomic/molecular level, how and why specific heat capacity is specific.

Answer 1

1) If hot metal had been very wet, it would have affected the experimental heat capacity of the metal by changing the temperature of metal and we know that for an accurate reading and determination of specific heat, the temperature needs to remain constant otherwise, we will not get an accurate value for specific heat.

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2) As the name suggests, specific heat capacity is different for different objects or we can say it is specifically for a specific object. Let's take an example - At molecular/atomic level, when we heat up oil, the bonds in oil break easily thus oil require a lot less heat in order to raise its temperature, on the other hand, if we consider water, a lot of heat is needed to break Hydrogen bonds of water molecule thus, its specific heat is thus more.