Question

Water has a specific heat of 4.186 J/g°C, and ethanol has a specific heat of 2.450 J/g°C. Based on this information, which best compares water and ethanol?

It requires more heat to raise the temperature of a gram of ethanol by 1°C.
There are more molecules in a gram of water.
Ethanol has a lower formula mass.
Water has more protons and neutrons in its nuclei.

Answer 1

Answer: There are more molecules in a gram of water.

Explanation: Specific heat is the heat required by 1 gram of a substance to raise its temperature by
`1^0C`.

As the specific heat of water (4.186 J/g°C) is more than that of ethanol (2.450 J/g°C) it means more energy is required to raise the temperature of a gram of water by 1°C. Which means the molecules are tightly bound and thus more molecules are contained in a gram of water.

`Q= m* c* \Delta T`

Q= heat gained

m= mass of the substance

c = heat capacity

`\Delta T={\text{Change in temperature}}`

Answer 2

I think the correct answer from the choices listed above is the second option.  Based on this information, we can say that there are more molecules in a gram of water since more energy is required to raise the temperature 1 gram of water than to raise the temperature of  1 gram of ethanol.