Question

A piece of metal weighing 59.0 g was heated to 100 C and then put into 100.0 g of water (initially at 23.0 C) the metal and water were allowed to come to an equilibrium temperature, determined to be 27.5 C. Assuming no heat lost to the environment, calculate the specific heat of the metal.

Answer 1

We have a hot piece of metal that is put in water, and the metal and water are allowed to come to an equilibrium. We can consider that no heat is lost. So the amount of heat that the piece of metal is losing, is gained by the water. The piece of metal is heating the water. We can write that as:

Q water = - Q metal

Then the general formula for the heat of anything is:

Q = m * C * ΔT

So:

Qwater = - Qmetal

mw * Cw ΔTw = -