PHYSICS LAB REPORT

Specific Heat Capacity Lab

(Group 2)

Sitanan
Boondaree
Panassaya
Natnapin
Kanwara

Teeracharoenchai
Daophiphatchai
Waenkaew
Ketchaikosol
Boonchai

(Ploy) 113
(Pleng)113
(Pin) 113
(Pin) 113
(Praewa)113

Objectives
:
The objectives of this experiment are to find the specific heat of the unknown metal
and to identify the sample material.

Hypothesis:
If we can find the specific heat of an unknown metal, then we can identify which
metal is it by finding that which metal match the specific heat that we just found.

Materials:

Piece of metal
Balance
400 or 600 mL beakers
Hot plate
Glass thermometer
Digital thermometer (Venier)
2 Styrofoam cups
Piece of cardboard
Crucible tongs

Procedure:
1. Determine an accurate mass for your sample of the metal. note the observable
physical properties of the metal.
2. Gently put your metal sample into 100 mL of water in a 400 or 600 mL beaker, and
heat this to boiling on a hot plate. Monitor the water temperature with a glass
thermometer

3. Assemble a calorimeter from a double Styrofoam cup with a cardboard cover, insert
the metal stem of a digital thermometer into the cover.
4. Put 50 mL of cold tap water into calorimeter, and allow the temperature to settle.
Record the temperature and the exact mass (that is, weight is) of the water.
5. Wait until the water in the beaker has been boiling at a stable temperature for 5
minutes. Grasp the metal sample firmly with your crucible tongs, and quickly
transfer it to the calorimeter, put the top with the digital thermometer back in
places, and begin observing the temperature of the water in the calorimeter.
6. Record the temperature of the water in the calorimeter every 30 second until you
have recorded the same value 4 times in a row, or until the temperature start to fall.

Results/Calculation:
Mass of the Metal : 10.56g
Mass of the Water : 48.56 g
Temperature when the water boil : 92C
Temperature of the water in the foam cup : 26.7C
Maximum temperature : 32C

Find the heat of the water : Q=m C p T

Q = (48.56)(4.18)(32-26.7)
Q = 1075.798 J.

Find the specific heat of the metal : Q=m C p T

1075.8 = (10.56)( C p ) (92-32)
Cp =

1075.8
(10.56)(60)

C p = 1.698 J/gC
The table that shows each materials specific heat.
Material

Specific Heat

Material

Specific Heat

Aluminum

0.895

Silver

0.233

Brass

0.380

Stainless Steel

0.51

Copper

0.387

Zinc

0.386

Gold

0.129

Granite

0.803

Iron

0.488

Air

1.00

Lead

0.128

Water

4.18

Questions (Analysis):
1.

2.

3.

4.

What is your metal? Why do you say so?

From our data, the specific heat of the material is 1.698 J/gC, which doesnt
match any metal from the chart.
What do you see as sources of error?
The error of this experiment might come from the metal of the digital
thermometer directly touch the material, it is not supposed to touch and measure
the temperature of the water directly.
Closely related to sources of error, what assumptions did you have to make for
your experiment to work?
The source of the error could come from lack of circumspect, experience and
knowledge about how to use the equipments properly. As a student, we might make
mistake that make the result of the experiment becomes an error.
Why did we put your metal in boiling water? Why not heat it some other way?
First, to find the constant temperature of the metal contain in the boiling
water. Second, to use the heat of the metal to change the temperature of the water in
the foam cup and use the data to calculate the specific heat of the material. Lastly,

5.

6.

we do not heat it because heating might cause other chemical reaction that can
affect the result.
Why did we have separate thermometers? Why not just move the
thermometer from the heating bath to your calorimeter? (Think of 2 good
reasons)
This is because when we use the glass thermometer to measure the first
temperature, it need time to go back to the normal temperature. And when we use
the digital thermometer, it is more accurate and it also give us the graph and the
data into the computer, which shows how the temperature change, and the
maximum temperature.
Would you use determination of C p as a way to identify a metal? Why or why
not?
Yes, we would use to C p to identify a metal because each metal has their

7.

own specific heat, so if we can find the specific heat, then it would be easier for us to
identify the unknown metal.
On a sunny day, beach sand gets very hot, a grassy area is comfortable, and the
water is cool. Using the data above and what you learned in this lab, along with
your common sense, explain why.
The specific heat the grass and the water is high, this makes it is harder to
heat up. It becomes a bad conductor and a good insulator. So, when we sit on the
grassy area or go down into the water its colder that the other area because grass
and water harder to gain heat in the radiation from the sun.

Conclusions:
The specific heat of the material that use in this experiment is 1.69 J/gC. The result
doesnt match any specific heat of the metal and it also does not match the hypothesis,
which might be because there are errors in our experiment. The error of this experiment
might come from the metal of the digital thermometer that directly touch the material, it is
not supposed to touch and measure the temperature of the water directly. This makes the
heat become higher than it should be, and when we use this heat to calculate for the
specific heat of the material, it makes the result goes wrong and the result doesnt match
any metals specific heat. So, in the next time, we can minimize the errors by be more
careful and accurate when we measure the temperature and etc.