Specific heat capacity of water

Question

I’m doing an experiment in physics about the heat capacity of water and I have questions that I don’t understand-

A little info->

Task/Mission- Determine the specific heat capacity of the water. Measure the relationship between supplied energy E and temperature T, measure the time change. Showcase the results in tables, graphs etc

Materials used - Immersion element heater(the spiral formed water boiler), thermos, water, data logger with thermocouples, weighing scale

so the following must be reported in the planning: (lab)

1. How is the weight of the water measured? 2. What is the connection between supplied energy E, immersion heater power P and time t?

3, How the specific heat capacity can be determined? (* In relation or compared with the determination of density)

/I’m mostly confused on how to do the experiment&Lab report (like the step by step info) in general because my teacher don’t know how to explain things articulately but any answer is much appreciated.

Answer 1

1 Measure the mass of the empty thermos in grams using the scale.

2 Add a quantity of water and measure the mass of the thermos plus water (filled thermos mass - empty thermos mass = mass of water).

3 Place the immersion heater and thermocouple into the water.

4 After a few minutes, measure the temperature (when temperature reading has stabilized).

5 plug in the immersion heater for a fixed period of time (maybe 300 seconds).

6 After the time has expired, turn off the immersion heater power.

7 Keep measuring the temperature until a stable final temperature is recorded but before any cooling occurs ( you want to record the final highest temperature reached).

Calculate the specific heat capacity using the following formula

Heat capacity = Wattage of heater x time in seconds /( grams of water x change in temperature)

Units are in Joules per gram-deg C

This procedure neglects the contribution of the thermos, heater, and thermocouple.