Specific Heat

Question

Hello!

 

I was doing a lab and a sample of iron that had the same mass, and absorbed the same heat but had two different specific heat capacities. Why is the one that had a lower specific heat capacity have a higher temp than the other that had a higher specific heat capacity? 

Answer 1

You must have written the question incorrectly, because as pointed out by Lauren, if you had two samples of iron of the same mass, the temperatures would be the same as the specific heat is the same.  I'm assuming you had two different substances with differing specific heat capacities.  My following answer is based on that.

 

Look at the definition of specific heat (C).  It is the heat required to raise the temperature of a unit mass (1 gram) of a substance by 1 degree. Usually it is given in joules/gram/degree (J/g/deg).  Written as an equation, it states that C = J/g/deg.  If one substance has a lower specific heat (C) than another, and the amount of heat absorbed (J) is the same, and the mass is the same, then the temperature of that substance with the lower C will have a greater temperature.

 

Put more simply, the lower the specific heat, the less heat is required to raise the temperature 1 degree.  If the same amount of heat is added to both, the one with the lower specific heat will go up more degrees than the other one, so the temperature will be greater.

Answer 2

spec heat of iron = 0.450 J/gC

If you used the same substance each time, and the masses were equal, then you should have gotten the same spec heat.  

Common errors include: failing to re-mass calorimeter between trials, failing to supply calorimeter with rt water, subtraction error when determining delta t.

You say, "the same mass, and absorbed the same heat ", so the only other term is delta t.