Question

what is a heat; provide definitions of the specific heat. Explain why heat gains must be equal heat losses in your experiment and derive the equation you are going to use to calculate the specific heat of a metallic ball

Answer 1

what is a heat?

Heat is the transfer of kinetic energy from one medium or object to another, or from an energy source to a medium or object. Such energy transfer can occur in three ways: radiation, conduction, and convection.

The standard unit of heat in the International System of Units (SI) is the calorie (cal), which is the amount of energy transfer required to raise the temperature of one gram of pure liquid water by one degree Celsius, provided the water temperature is higher than the freezing point and lower than the boiling point. Sometimes the kilocalorie (kcal) is specified as a unit of heat; 1 kcal = 1000 cal. (This is the so-called diet calorie.) Less often, the British thermal unit (Btu) is used. This is the amount of heat required to raise the temperature of one pound of pure liquid water by one degree Fahrenheit.

provide definitions of the specific heat

The specific heat is the amount of heat per unit mass required to raise thetemperature by one degree Celsius. The relationship between heat and temperature change is usually expressed in the form shown below where c is the specific heat. The relationship does not apply if a phase change is encountered, because the heat added or removed during a phase change does not change the temperature.

The specific heat of water is 1 calorie/gram