Aim

What is the specific heat capacity of copper, aluminium and iron?

Prediction
Metal blocks with the same mass, yet bigger volume have a bigger specific heat capacity.

Variables
Independent variable: type of metal (copper, aluminium, iron)
Dependent variable: specific heat capacity
Control variable: power of heater, time (range: 0 minutes ~ 10 minutes, measure
temperature every minute), mass of metal blocks, ammeter reading and voltmeter reading
Control: metal block that is not heated

Materials
● 1kg Copper, aluminium, and iron metal blocks with two holes (one for the
thermometer and one for the heater)
● 30W Heater
● 12V power supply
● Thermometer
● Pipette to put water in the thermometer hole
● 12W Power supply
● Insulation to wrap around blocks
● Ammeter and voltmeter
● Stop watch
● 4mm leads
● Balance to measure the mass of metal blocks

Diagram

Method
Health and safety (risk assessment)
1) Be careful not to touch the heater when the power pack is on.
2) Be careful when you are holding metal blocks and thermometer because you might
drop it. The thermometer will break and the metal block might drop on your toes.
 3) Don’t switch the power pack before you complete setting up the apparatus because
who might get an electric shock.

Method
1. Measure and record the mass of the copper block, in kg.
2. Place a heater in the larger hole in the block.
3. Connect the power pack, ammeter, and heater in series.
4. Connect the voltmeter in parallel.
5. Put a small amount of water in the other hole using a pipette and put a thermometer
in the same hole.
6. Switch the power pack to 12V and switch it on.
7. Record the ammeter reading and the voltmeter reading.
8. Measure the temperature of the copper block and record it.
9. Switch on the stop clock.
10. Measure the temperature of the copper block every minute for 10 minutes and
record the temperature.
11. Calculate the power of the heater in watts by multiplying the ammeter reading by the
voltmeter reading.
12. Calculate the work done by the heater by multiply the time in seconds by the power
of the heater.
13. Plot a graph of temperature in °C against work done in J.
14. Draw a line of best fit.
15. Calculate the gradient of the straight part of the graph.
16. Calculate the heat capacity of the block by diving 1 with the gradient of the block.
(1/gradient)
17. Calculate the specific heat capacity by dividing the heat capacity by the mass of the
block in kg.
18. Repeat the process 1-17 for aluminium block and iron block.

Results Table
Ammeter reading: 3.14 A
Voltmeter reading: 9.25 V

Copper (mass: 0.99kg)

Time (seconds) Temperature (°C) Power of heater (W) Work done by the heater (J)

0 23 29.0 0

60 24 29.0 1740

120 28 29.0 3840

180 31 29.0 5220

240 35 29.0 6960

300 39 29.0 8700

 360 43 29.0 10440

420 47 29.0 12180

480 50 29.0 13920

540 54 29.0 15660

600 57 29.0 17400

Gradient of the line of best fit: 2.08 x 10^-3

Heat capacity : 1/0.00208 = 430.8 (Jkg-1)
Specific heat capacity : 430.8/0.99 = 485.6 (J/kg°C)
Specific heat capacity from the Internet: 380 (J/kg°C)

Aluminium (mass: 0.99kg)

Results from Amy Nam
Time (seconds) Temperature (°C) Power of heater (W) Work done by the heater (J)

0 22 29.0 0

60 23 29.0 1740

120 24 29.0 3840

180 26 29.0 5220

240 28 29.0 6960

300 29 29.0 8700

360 31 29.0 10440

420 33 29.0 12180

480 35 29.0 13920

540 37 29.0 15660

600 39 29.0 17400

Gradient of the line of best fit : 0.001

Heat capacity : 1/0.001 = 1000 (Jkg-1)
Specific heat capacity : 1000/0.99 = 1010 (J/kg°C)
Specific heat capacity from the Internet: 880 (J/kg°C)

Iron (mass: 0.99kg)

Results from Amy Nam
Time (seconds) Temperature (°C) Power of heater (W) Work done by the heater (J)
 0 20 29.0 0

60 21 29.0 1740

120 24 29.0 3840

180 27 29.0 5220

240 30 29.0 6960

300 33 29.0 8700

360 36 29.0 10440

420 40 29.0 12180

480 43 29.0 13920

540 47 29.0 15660

600 53 29.0 17400

Gradient of the line of best fit : 0.00188

Heat capacity : 1/0.00188 = 531.9 (Jkg-1)
Specific heat capacity : 531.9/0.99 = 537.3 (J/kg°C)
Specific heat capacity from the internet: 461 (J/kg°C)

Graph

No anomalous results
No anomalous results

No anomalous results

Conclusion
My hypothesis was correct. Copper had the lowest specific heat capacity of 485.6 (J/kg°C)
and aluminium had the highest specific heat capacity of 1010 (J/kg°C). Specific heat
capacity of iron was 537.3 (J/kg°C). Aluminium block had the largest volume and copper
had the smallest volume. From this experiment I can tell that when the metal blocks have the
same mass, the metal block with bigger volume have a higher specific heat capacity. There
were no anomalous results and all three graphs formed linear line.
The specific heat capacity that I calculated were higher than the actual specific heat capacity
that were on the Internet. This might have happened because I rounded up the values to 3
or 4 significant figures when I was calculating heat capacity and specific heat capacity. Also,
there could be some errors when I was recording the temperature because my reading could
be a little bit different from the actual reading.

Evaluation
I could improve the accuracy of the results by repeating the experiment several times and
finding the mean value. I didn’t have enough time so I could only do one trial. If I repeated
the experiment three times and calculated the means I could have reduced reaction time
errors. Also, the results could have been more accurate if I measured the change in
temperature of all metal blocks (copper, aluminium and iron). I could only measure the
results for copper because I didn’t have enough time to repeat the experiment for aluminium
and iron. So I had to share Amy Nam’s results. This could make the results inaccurate
because Amy used a different power pack from me. The results might be inaccurate
because read the temperature with my eyes.