Question

Your friend comes across a good deal to purchase a gold ring. She asks you for advice and for you to test the ring. The ring has a mass of a 4.54 g. When you heat the ring with 94.8 J of energy, its temperature rises from 23.0°C to 47.5°C. Would you advise your friend that she is getting a good deal? Explain. The specific heat capacity of gold is 0.1291 J/g•°C.

Answer 1

She is not getting a good deal.

Step-by-step explanation:

The equation that relates heat with mass, specific heat and temperature change of an object is
`Q=mc\Delta T`.

Always convert temperature to Kelvin, although in our case it's not necessary because the
`\Delta T` will be the same, and we will leave the mass in grams because we will be getting
`J/g^(\circ)C` units for specific heat, which we can compare to the one given for gold.

We then calculate the specific heat of the object in question:

`c=(Q)/(m\Delta T)=(94.8J)/((4.54g)(47.5^(\circ)C-23^(\circ)C))=0.8523 J/g^(\circ)C`

Which shows it's not gold.