Question

a 35.0 g piece of copper wire is heated and the temperature of the wire changes from 29.0°C to 76.0°C. the amount heat absorbed is 243 cal. what is the specific heat of copper? you must show all work

Answer 1

0.15cal/g°C

Step-by-step explanation:

Given parameters:

Mass of copper wire = 35g

T₁ = 29°C

T₂ = 76°C

Amount of heat absorbed = 243cal

Unknown:

Specific heat of copper = ?

Solution:

The specific heat of a substance is the amount of heat needed to raise the temperature of a unit mass of such substance by 1°C.

We can express this mathematically as;

C =
`(H)/(m(T_(2) - T_(1) ))`

Where H is the heat supplied

C is the specific heat

m is the mass

T is the temperature(1 is the initial state and 2 is the final state)

Input the parameters and solve;

C =
`(243)/(35(76 - 29))` = 0.15cal/g°C