PHYSICS FOR ALLIED HEALTH

PROFESSIONALS
EXPERIMENT 6. SPECIFIC HEAT
CAPACITY
 THE LASALLIAN PRAYER

I will continue, O my God, to do all

my actions for the love of you.

St. John Baptist de La Salle, pray for

us.

Live Jesus in our hearts, Forever.

7/2/2022 3
EXPERIMENT 6. SPECIFIC HEAT CAPACITY
OBJECTIVES:

1. Determine the specific heat of a solid metal.

EXPERIMENT 6. SPECIFIC HEAT CAPACITY
THEORY:

Heat capacity of a body is the quantity of heat required to raise the

temperature of the body by 10C. The specific heat of a substance is defined as
the heat per unit mass per degree change in temperature.

�
c=
� ∆�
where:
c = specific heat
Q = quantity of heat
m = mass
∆t = rise in temperature
EXPERIMENT 6. SPECIFIC HEAT CAPACITY
THEORY:
The method of mixtures makes use of the principles that when two bodies
at different temperatures exchange heat, the quantity of heat lost by the
warmer body is equal to the heat gained by the cooler body, and some
intermediate equilibrium temperature is finally reached.

Heat Gained = Heat Lost

������� = �����
EXPERIMENT 6. SPECIFIC HEAT CAPACITY
OBJECTIVES:

1. Determine the specific heat of a solid metal.

EXPERIMENT 6. SPECIFIC HEAT CAPACITY
PROCEDURE:

Fill with water and let it boil Measure the mass of metal sample
msample
EXPERIMENT 6. SPECIFIC HEAT CAPACITY
PROCEDURE:

Place the metal sample inside the steam generator

EXPERIMENT 6. SPECIFIC HEAT CAPACITY
PROCEDURE:
EXPERIMENT 6. SPECIFIC HEAT CAPACITY
PROCEDURE:

Inner calorimeter
Measure the mass of calorimeter
mcal
EXPERIMENT 6. SPECIFIC HEAT CAPACITY
PROCEDURE:

Measure the mass of calorimeter with water

Mcal+water Calorimeter set-up
EXPERIMENT 6. SPECIFIC HEAT CAPACITY
PROCEDURE:
EXPERIMENT 6. SPECIFIC HEAT CAPACITY
PROCEDURE:

Immediately transfer
the hot metal sample
inside the calorimeter

Wait for thermal

equilibrium
Tf
EXPERIMENT 6. SPECIFIC HEAT CAPACITY
PROCEDURE:

mcal+water - mcal

ΔTwater = Tfinal - Tcold

ΔTsample = Tsample - Tfinal

(mwater c water )ΔTwater  (mcalc cal )ΔTcal

c sample =
msample ΔTsample
EXPERIMENT 6. SPECIFIC HEAT CAPACITY
EXPERIMENT 6. SPECIFIC HEAT CAPACITY
QUESTIONS:
1. What does it mean when a certain material has a high or low specific heat?

2. How do you relate substances that heat up quickly to the specific heat
capacity?
EXPERIMENT 6. SPECIFIC HEAT CAPACITY
QUESTIONS:
3. What is the importance of preventing heat loss to the surroundings in the
experiment?
EXPERIMENT 6. SPECIFIC HEAT CAPACITY
QUESTIONS:
1. What does it mean when a certain material has a high or low specific heat?
A material with high specific heat capacity means it requires a greater amount of
heat to raise its temperature by 1 C°. As a consequence, it heats up slowly.
On the other hand, a material with low specific heat capacity requires less heat
to raise its temperature by 1 C°. As a consequence, it heats up quickly.

2. How do you relate substances that heat up quickly to the specific heat
capacity?
Substances that heat up quickly are those with low specific heat capacity. They
require less heat to raise their temperature.
EXPERIMENT 6. SPECIFIC HEAT CAPACITY
QUESTIONS:
3. What is the importance of preventing heat loss to the surroundings in the
experiment?
Preventing heat loss is necessary for the method of mixtures to be applicable in
the experiment. i.e. The heat gained by colder objects is equal to the heat lost
by hotter objects ONLY IF there is NO HEAT LOSS to the surroundings.
EXPERIMENT 6. SPECIFIC HEAT CAPACITY
Points for Discussion:
• What is thermal equilibrium? How is this used in the experiment? How is this
observed in your data?

• Which objects in the experiment gained heat? Which ones lost heat?

• Based from your experimental results for the specific heat capacity, compare the
two metals. Which one heats up or cools down more quickly?

• Discuss possible sources of error:

• What is the effect of heat loss to the surroundings? Which specific parts of the experiment did
this occur?
• Did we account for all objects that can lose or gain heat? If not, which other objects could have
participated in the exchange of heat?