Question

In a calorimetry experiment, it was determined that a 92.0 gram piece of copper metal released 1860 J of heat to the surrounding water in the calorimeter (qcopper = −1860 J). If the final temperature of the copper metal-water mixture was 25.00°C, what was the initial temperature of the copper metal? The specific heat of copper is 0.377 J/(g°C). Group of answer choices Tinitial = 28.6°C Tinitial = −28.6°C Tinitial = 78.6°C Tinitial = 92.6°C Tinitial = 53.6°C

Answer 1

Tinitial = 78.6°C

Step-by-step explanation:

In a calorimetry experiment, the flow heat is measured for a system that has a state change. In this case, there isn't happening a physical change, so the heat is called sensitive heat, and it's calculated by:

q = mxCpxΔT

Where q is the heat, m is the mass, Cp is the specific heat and ΔT is the difference of final and initial temperature (Tfinal - Tinitial).

Copper is losing heat, so q is negative, then:

-1860 = 92x0.377x(25 - Ti)

34.684(25 - Ti) = -1860

25 - Ti = -53.63

-Ti = -78.63

Ti = 78.6ºC