Title: Specific Heat of Metal
Purpose: Determining the specific heat of a metal sample.
Materials and Apparatus: goggles; 250mL beaker; Styrofoam cup; thermometer; 18 X 150 mm
test tube; lab burner
Drawings:
Procedures and Observations:
Procedures:
1. With tap water, fill a 250mL beaker half full.
2. Place the water filled beaker on a ring stand using wire gauze. Once on the ring stand,
begin heating until it boils using a lab burner.
3. Measure and record the mass of a dry, empty test tube that is 18 X 150 mm.
4. Then add a sample of metal pieces to the test tube until it is half full. Once again, record
the mass of the test tube with the metal.
5. After that, place the test tube containing the sample of metal into the beaker of water and
continue heating to a boil.
6. Repeat steps 3-5 using another different metal sample. Then obtain a Styrofoam cup to
be used as a calorimeter, measure the mass, and record.
7. Fill the Styrofoam cup half full with room temperature distilled water and record the
mass.
8. Once the water in the beaker containing the metal samples has boiled for 10 minutes,
measure the temperature of the water with a thermometer and record. (It will be assumed
the temperature of the metal is the same as the boiling water.)
9. Then measure the temperature of the water in the Styrofoam cup and record.
10. Remove one of the test tubes containing the metal sample from the boiling water and
immediately dump the metal into the Styrofoam cup. Leaving the other sample in the
boiling water.
11. Stir the water in the Styrofoam cup slowly because the thermometers can break easily.
Then record the highest temperature that was reached.
12. After that, recover the metal by pouring the water off carefully or decanting. Spread the
metal on a paper towel to dry. Do not let any metal particles into the laboratory sink.
13. Repeat steps 10-12 with the other metal sample and record the data. Turn off the burner
and clean the lab area before the leaving.
Observations: There were no observations.
Data:
Mass of Test Tubes
Test Tube 1: 21.5g
Test Tube 2: 22.53g
Mass of Test Tube and Metals
Sample 1(Aluminum): 41.22g
Sample 2(Zinc): 41.91g
Mass of Styrofoam Cup
1.70g
Mass of Styrofoam Cup w/ Distilled Water
126.6g
Temperature of Boiling Water
98 ˚ C
Temperature of Water in Cup
18 ˚ C
Temperature of Water in Cup after Aluminum
22 ˚ C
was added
Temperature of Water in Cup after Zinc was
added
20 ˚ C
Calculations:
Conclusions: The experiment was a success and everything went according to plan. The specific
heats of the metal samples were found using the data and plugging those numbers into the
equation to find the specific heat of them. By using the equations the proper specific heats were
found for both the aluminum and the zinc.
Error Sources: There were no error sources.
Questions:
1. Why is water an excellent material to use in a calorimeter?
Water is an excellent material to use because the boiling point, freezing point, and
specific heat are already known.
2. Calculate the specific heat of a metallic element if 50.0g of the metal need 314 joules of
heat energy to raise the temperature from 25˚ C to 50˚C.
Colby Geisinger
Keegan Fouse
Frank Melvin