Lab No.

SPECIFIC HEAT CAPACITY

Objective

• To find the specific heat capacity of a solid ( Copper , Aluminum ) by

method of mixtures.
Theory
1. Specific heat capacity of a substance is the amount of energy
required to raise the temperature of 1 g of that substance by 1° c.

2. Thermal equilibrium is a state when the amount of heat given by one

body to another is equal to the amount of heat energy given by second
body to the first and the temperatures remain constant.
Equations

Qlost = Qgained
QLOST BY SUBSTANCE = QGAINED BY LIQUID + QGAINED BY CALORIE METER

Ms cs (Ts – T) = mw cw (T – Tw) + mc cc (T – Tc)

So,
Cs= [(mw cw + mc cc )(T – Tcw)] / Ms(Ts – T)
Tools

1-Thermometer
2-caloriemeter
3-water
4-solid substance
5- steam generator
Method and Steps
1- Measure the weight of empty Calorimeter and record its value Mc
2- Measure the weight of water inside calorimeter and record its value Mw =
Mcw – Mc. And measure their initial temperature (Tw)
3- weight some pieces of solids [ copper , Aluminum] and record their value
(Ms).
4- Put solid pieces in steam generator and let them heated to reach final
temperature (Ts).
5- Put the solid pieces into the water and let them reach the final mixture
temperature (T) .
6- Finally apply the equations and get the value of specific heat of solid (Cs)
Table of Measurements

Mass of Substance MS=………………………. kg

Mass of water Mw=…………………………kg
Mass of calorimeter Mc=……………………….....kg
Initial temperature Tl=………………………..... c
Solid temperature Ts =………………………………………….. c

Finial temperature T=………………………………c

Specific heat of water Cw=
Specific heat of calorimeter Cc=
Comments

Substance C,cal/goC or Btu/bmFo

Aluminum 0.22

Copper 0.093

• Calculate Error Percentage

Error = (|C measured – C actual|) C actual.