Theme 07: Thermal Physics

Heat Capacity and Latent Heat Worksheet

1 Normal body temperature for humans is 37℃. What is the corresponding temperature in Kelvin?

2 Explain briefly why Kelvin is a universal measure of temperature (unlike degrees Celsius or Fahrenheit).

3 If 2200 J of heat is added to a 190 g object, its temperature increases by 12 ℃. What is the heat
capacity of this object?

4 A student immerses a 2.0 kW electric heater in an insulated beaker of water at 20℃. The heater is
switched on and after 120 s the water reaches boiling point. Calculate the specific heat capacity of
water. The mass of the water is 1.2 kg.

5 Calculate the mass of water boiled away in a 3 kW electric kettle in 3 minutes. Note that the latent heat
of vaporisation for water is 2.26 × 106 J kg −1 .

6
(a) Calculate the energy needed to heat an aluminium pan of mass 0.4 kg from 20 ℃ to 100 ℃ given
that the specific heat capacity of aluminium is 900 𝐽 𝑘𝑔−1 𝐾 −1.
(b) Now if 1.6 kg of water is added to this pan and also heated from 20 ℃ to 100 ℃ calculate the total
energy required to heat both the pan and the water.
(c) If we are using a 2.0 kW electric heating plate to heat the pan and water then calculate the time it
takes to heat both the pan and the water.

7 A 65 kg cyclist expends 340 W whilst cycling. Assume that the cyclist loses no energy to the
surroundings and that the average specific heat capacity of her body is 3900 J kg −1 K −1

(a) Calculate the thermal energy generated in one minute.

(b) Calculate the temperature rise of the runner’s body in one minute.

The runner can reduce her temperature through evaporation of sweat.

(c) If the runner loses energy at a rate of 400 W then calculate the mass of sweat evaporated in
one minute. Note that the latent heat of vaporisation for water is 2.26 × 106 J kg −1.

8 A 0.22 kg steel pot on a stove contains 2.1 L of water at 22 °C. When the burner is turned on, the water
begins to boil after 8.5 minutes. (Note: 1 𝐿 = 10−3 𝑚3 and the specific heat capacity of steel is
448 𝐽 𝑘𝑔−1 𝐾 −1 )

(a) At what rate is heat being transferred from the burner to the pot of water?
(b) At this rate of heating, would it take more time or less time for the water to start to boil if the
pot were made of gold rather than steel? (heat capacity of gold is 150 𝐽 𝑘𝑔−1 𝐾 −1).

9 How much heat must be removed from 0.96 kg of water at 0 °C to make ice cubes at
0 °C? Latent heat of fusion for water, Lf = 33.5  104 J kg-1.

10 When you go out to your car one cold winter morning you discover a 0.57 cm thick layer of ice on the
windshield, which has an area of 1.6 m2. If the temperature of the ice is
−2 °C and its density is 917 kg m-3 find the heat required to melt all the ice. Latent heat of fusion for water,
Lf = 33.5  104 J kg-1, specific heat for ice, c = 2090 J kg-1 K-1.

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