lab16.1 Name__________________________________Period________________Date______ Specific Heat Capacity of a Metal 10 Points Please read and complete this pre-lab prior to performing this experiment. Purpose: To use a calorimeter to find the specific heat capacity of a metal.
Theory: Have you observed how some metals stay hot longer than others? Specific heat measures this property: it is the amount of heat required to raise the temperature of one gram of a substance by one degree Celsius. For example, as a 1 g slug of hot lead (Pb) cools in water, it releases 0.129 joules (j) of heat to the water for each degree that it cools. We can therefore identify metals by measuring the specific heat of an unknown metal, and comparing it to known values. We will do this by heating a metal to 100 OC, then placing it in room temperature water to see how much hotter the water gets. Metals with a high specific heat will heat up the water a lot. We will then calculate the specific heat (called “c”) of the metal to identify it.
Questions:
1. Give a definition of specific heat in your own words- don’t use the definition above.
2. Why might it be important to use a large mass of metal for these measurements?
Procedure: We need 5 pieces of data. Put water in a calorimeter (a Styrofoam cup) to just cover your metal; mass the water. Mass of water in calorimeter: Take the temperature of the water.
Initial calorimeter water temperature:
Take the temperature of the boiling water (it should be 100 OC) Temperature of metal in boiling water: Carefully put your metal in boiling water. Wait 3 minutes. Transfer to calorimeter (cup). See how hot the water gets Temperature of water in cup (and metal) after heated by metal: Dry your metal and mass it.
Mass of dry metal:
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