Laurel Levine
May 27, 2014
Specific Heat Lab
The purpose of this lab is to determine the specific heat of a metal by adding a hot metal
to water in a calorimeter and measuring the temperature change of the metal and the water. The
first step was to make sure the water was boiling at around the setting seven and that you knew
which metals were which according to the picture on the board. Using the graduated cylinder,
250.0 ml (250.0g) of tap water was measured and poured into the Styrofoam cup. The
thermometer measured the initial reading of the water pre-metal. The metals were divided among
our table partners and then using a utility clamp the metals were placed one by one into the
boiling water. Metals that wouldn’t be easily confused were able to boil together at the same
time. After five minutes in the boiling water the hot metal was picked up with the clamp and then
placed in the Styrofoam cup filled with water. The thermometer was kept in the Styrofoam cup
as readings were checked approximately every thirty seconds until it remained the same for
consecutive readings. This number was then recorded and the metal was dried and placed back
into the container with the cycle repeating with another metal. Information on the other metals
was traded between table partners. The heat gained by the water was found using q=MC(delta)T
plugging in the mass of water, the specific heat of water, and the change in temperature of water.
Then the specific heat of metal was found using C=q/MC(delta)T plugging in the heat gained by
water in, the mass, and the change in temperature of the metal. Using this information the
identity of the metal was determined based on the specific heat values we found to those of the
specific heats we were given for each metal. The claim for this lab is that sample one is tin,
Sample two is zinc, Sample three is steel, Sample four is aluminum, and Sample five is copper.
This information was obtained by using the specific heat of metal found and then comparing it to
the known specific heats. Sample one was found by looking at the specific heat found in the lab
(.26 J/C) and the known specific heat (.22 J/C) and it was found to have the lowest specific heat
which would make it Tin. Sample two was found by looking at the specific heat found in the lab
(.29 J/C) and the known specific heat (.385 J/C) and with the elimination of copper due to its
color the only other metal it could be was Zinc because the specific heats of Zinc and copper are
almost the same. Sample three was found by looking at the specific heat found in the lab (.47
J/C) and the known specific heat (.460 J/C) and with the specific heats nearly matching up
exactly it was determined to be Steel. Sample four was found by looking at the specific heat
found in the lab (.69 J/C) and the known specific heat (.899 J/C) and it was found to have the
highest specific heat which would make it aluminum. Sample five was found by looking at the
specific heat found in the lab (.28 J/C) and the known specific heat (.385 J/C) and it had to be
copper due to its color but also to the fact that it had almost the same specific heat as Zinc. The
reason this lab works is that even though the specific heat values found in the lab vary from the
known specific heat values they can still be determined by seeing where the numbers fall in
terms of lowest or highest specific heat, color, and number similarities. Also this lab shows the
importance of measuring accurate readings and temperatures in order to get accurate results. An
error in this lab could be that the volume of the Styrofoam cup could have varied slightly due to
the removal of the metal accidentally removing some water, or the temperature of the boiling
water changing slightly between experiments. Also human error could have occurred in terms of
reading the thermometer and not waiting a sufficient time before taking the final reading. Things
to take away from this lab were calculating heat gained by using q=MC(delta)T and calculating
specific heat using C= q / MC(delta)T. Also the use of gathered data in comparison to known
data to predict a metal identity is an important thing to be able to do.