Balance Calorimetry Equation

Question

I have seen some online resources stating:

Q lost metal = - Q gained water (the negative sign is on the side of energy gain)

But from what I learned, the q energy is negative when heat is released (exothermic).

Therefore, shouldn't negative sign goes with the metal which lost heat to water?

-Q lost metal = Q gained water (This is the correct equation?)

Answer 1

Yes, you are correct.

heat lost = negative

heat gained = positive

You can avoid the confusion by omitting the sign and just knowing that when heat is lost, the answer will have a negative sign and vice versa. If dealing with final temperature calculations, just keep all ∆T values positive, and the answer will work out correctly.