Question

A 135 grams sample of a metal requires 3025 Joules of energy to change its temperature from 19.5 C to 100 C, what is the specific heat of the metal?

Answer 1

The specific heat capacity is the heat required to raise the temperature of 1kg of a substance by 1 deg. celcius and is given by the following formula:

`\begin{gathered} c=(Q)/(m\Delta T) \\ c:specific\text{ }heat\text{ }capcity=x \\ Q:heat\text{ }energy=3025J \\ m:massofsubstance=135g=0.135kg \\ \Delta T:temperature\text{ }change(final\text{ }temp.-initial\text{ }temp.) \\ \Delta T:100\degree C-19.5\degree C=80.5\degree C \end{gathered}`

We will substitute these values into the equation to determine the unknown x:

`\begin{gathered} c=(3025J)/(0.135kg*80.5\degree C) \\ c=278.4\text{ }Jkg^(-1)\degree C^(-1) \end{gathered}`

Answer: The specific heat of the metal is 278.4 J/kg deg. C.