chemistry problems are confusing!!! please i need to understand this and how to do the steps too!

Question

An unknown metal is thought to be aluminum. When 25.4 j of heat are added to 22.5 g of the metal, its temperature rises by 4.8 c. is the metal aluminum?

Table

Substance Specific Heat Capacity ( J/ g C)

Lead 0.128

Gold 0.128

Silver 0.235

Copper 0.385

Iron 0.449

Aluminum 0.903

Ethanol 2.42

Water 4.184

Answer 1

The table gives the specific heat of aluminum to be 0.903 joules of heat will raise the temperature of one gram of aluminum by one degree celsius.

The problem states that 25.4 joules of heat were added to the sample.

If the sample weighed one gram, this would raise the temperature

25.4/0.903 = 28.128 degrees celsius. However, your sample actually weighs 22.5 grams, so if the sample was aluminum, you would expect a rise in temperature of

28.128/22.5 = 1.25 degrees celsius. Since the metal actually experienced a rise in temperature of 4.8 degrees celsius, almost four times as much, the sample clearly is not aluminum. If you do the same calculation using the specific heat for silver, you will find that the temperature is expected to rise 4.8 degrees celsius, the reported amount.