What is the specific heat of the metal? Please answer to three digits after the decimal point and include units.

Question

Lana is using a calorimeter to determine the specific heat of a metallic sample. She measures out 189.6 grams of her metal and heats it to 82.0 degrees Celsius. Then, she puts the sample into a calorimeter containing 11.94 grams of water at 46.0 degrees Celsius. She measures the temperature of the water in the calorimeter until the number stops changing, then records the final temperature to be 69.5 degrees Celsius. What is the specific heat of the metal? Please answer to three digits after the decimal point and include units.

Answer 1

The key to answering calorimeter problems is to recognize that any heat gained by the water is equal to the heat lost by the metal. Therefore, we can solve for the heat gained by the water using dH=mcdT and then using that value solve for the specific heat of the metal

heat gained by water:

H=(11.94)(4.18)(23.5)= 1.1729E3 Joules

Heat lost by metal:

-1.1729E3= (189.6)(c)(-12.5)

c=0.495 J/g°C