Specific Heat Lab
Block: ____ Name: ___________________
Purpose: To determine the unknown metal by calculating its specific heat.
Procedure:
1. Obtain a beaker and fill ½ to 2/3 full of water. Get the water boiling!
2. Record the mass of the metal. Record your metal unknown letter. ________.
3. Place it in the heating water. (Make sure the metal is covered in water.) Heat until boiling and then
boil 5 minutes longer.
4. Fill the Styrofoam cup about ¾ way full of water and find its mass. Record!
5. Measure the temperature of the water in the Styrofoam cup. Record (initial temp)
6. Remove the piece of metal from the boiling water using tongs and place into the styrofoam cup.
Record the temperature of the water every 30 seconds until the temperature remains
constant for 2
consecutive readings.
Data Tables
Trial 1
Mass of metal
Mass of cup
Mass of
cup+water
Mass of water
Initial Temp
Metal
Initial Temp H2O
Trial 2
Time (min)
0.0
0.5
1.0
1.5
2.0
2.5
3.0
3.5
Final Water
temperature (ºC)
(after you add the
metal)
Trial 1
Trial 2
Drawing: Draw a picture of the Styrofoam cup set-up. Draw arrows to show how heat is being transferred.
Calculations:
Use the equation q=mCΔT and your drawing to determine the specific heat of the metal for trials 1 and 2.
(After doing calculations for both trials) Average specific heat:________________
Questions: Answer in complete sentences.
1. Compare your calculations to the specific heat of metals below. What do you think is the unknown
metal? Explain your reasoning.
Aluminum = 0.900 J/gºC
Iron = 0.444 J/gºC
Lead = 0.130 J/gºC Zinc = 0.39 J/gºC
Nickel = 0.54 J/gºC
Copper = 0.385 J/gºC Brass = 0.377 J/gºC
2. Which component (the metal or water) experienced a greater change in temperature (ΔT)? Why do
you think that?
3. Consider each of the following potential sources of errors:
Answer…
… “H” if it would have caused your experimental value for the metal to come out too high,
… “L” if it would have caused it to come out too low, or
… “N” if it would have had no effect at all on your value.
_______ You forgot to subtract the mass of the empty cup
_______ You used a metal can (which conducts heat away) instead of Styrofoam (which insulates)
_______ You drank some of your calorimeter water after you found its mass
_______ After weighing the metal, a chunk of it broke off and was lost on the floor.
_______ You used a Styrofoam lid to contain the heat in the cup
_______ The heat from the metal heated up the water to boiling
4. A piece of metal at 100 oC is placed in 75 grams of water at 25 oC. The water temperature rises to 30 oC. Assuming
that the specific heat capacity of the metal is 0.84 J/g oC, what is the mass of the metal?