Name Date:_________________

Honor Physics Score: _____/____

Heating Substances in the Sun

The following table shows the temperature after 10.0 g of 4 different substances have been in direct sunlight for
up to 60 minutes.
Time (minutes) Air (oC) Water (oC) Sand (oC) Metal (oC)
0 (initial) 25 25 25 25
15.0 28.9 26.2 30 35
30.0 32.5 27.5 35 45
45.0 36.2 28.8 40 55
60.0 40 30 45 65

Step 1: Create a line graph for each substance on the graph below. Make sure to label each data set.

Temperature vs. Heating Time

Step 2: Answer Questions
1. Order the substances
based on the time required
to heat them from:
70 Slowest

60
Temperature (oC)

50
Fastest

40 2. Which do you think will

cool the slowest? Explain.

30

200 10 20 30 40 50 60
Time (minutes)

3. When you boil water in a pot on the stove, which heats slower, the metal or the water? Explain.

4. What property allows for different substances heat up and cool down at different rates? Define it.

5. Based on the definition above, which of the 4 substances do you think has:
a) the highest specific heat?

b) the lowest specific heat?

6. What does the slope represent in these graphs?

7. Here are the specific heats of the four substances:

4.18 J/g∙oC,

1.00 J/g∙oC,

0.80 J/g∙oC,

0.60 J/g∙oC.

Match and then label each substance with its specific heat capacity using your graph.

8. If something has a high specific heat will it take a lot of heat or a little heat to change its temperature?
Explain. (Use the definition, your graph, and the data from #7)

Part 2 Practice: Solve. Express all answers in Joules. Use the table in the book of c.

Substance Specific Heat Capacity (J / g ∙ oC)

Water 4.18
Copper 0.385
Iron 0.450
Granite 0.790
Steel 0.466

1. 5.0 g of copper was heated from 20°C to 80°C. How much energy was used to heat Cu?

2. How much heat is absorbed by 20g granite boulder as energy from the sun causes its temperature to
change from 10°C to 29°C?

3. You add a few blocks of ice to your 300g glass of water at 25°C which cools down to 2°C.

a. Does your water gains cool or loses heat?

b. What is amount of energy is being transferred?

4. If a 3.1g ring is heated using 10.0 calories (careful!), its temperature rises 28.9°C.
a. Calculate the specific heat capacity of the ring

b. Determine the material it is made of.

5. The temperature of a sample of water increases from 20°C to 46.6°C as it absorbs 5650 calories of heat.
a. What is the mass of the sample?

b. Did the sample gain energy or lose energy?

6. The temperature of a sample of iron with a mass of 10.0 g changed from 50.4°C to 25.0°C.
a. Was heat released or absorbed by the sample of iron?

b. Calculate the amount of heat involved in this process.

7. A 4.50 g coin of copper absorbed 246 Joules of heat. What was the final temperature of the copper if the
initial temperature was 25°C?

8. A 155 g sample of an unknown substance was heated from 25°C to 40°C. In the process, the substance
absorbed 3000 J of energy.
a. What is the specific heat of the substance?

b. Does this substance require more or less heat than water to change its temperature?

9. What is the specific heat of an unknown substance if a 2.50 g sample releases 60.5 Joules as its
temperature changes from 25°C to 20°C?

Does this substance require more or less heat than water to change its temperature?