Question

Wood has 4 times the heat capacity as steel. If I add the same amount of heat to the same amount of steel and wood, I find the temperature of the steel increases to 40°C. What is the temperature of the wood?

Answer 1

We balance the enthalpy absorbed by the steel and the enthalpy lost by wood. In this case, we use mCp ΔT to describe the problem. Cp (W) is 4 Cp(S). assuming the same mass,
mCp(W) ΔT1 = mCp(S) ΔT2
4* ΔT1 = 40
ΔT1 = 10. Hence the temperature of the wood is decreased by 10 degrees