AUSTIN BODI OUMA APCS SCT-253-040/2021

MULTIMEDIA UNIVERSITY OF KENYA

FACULTY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

DEPARTMENT OF PHYSICS

APPLIED PHYSICS AND COMPUTER SCIENCE

SCT-253-040/2021

AUSTIN BODI OUMA

AUSTIN BODI OUMA APCS SCT-253-040/2021

EXPERIMENT 1
AIM
To find out what a calorimeter is
Introduction
When two systems or objects of different temperature come into contact, energy in the form
of heat is transferred from the warmer system into the cooler. This transfer of heat raises the
temperature of the cooler system and lowers the temperature of the warmer system.
Eventually the two systems reach some common, intermediate temperature, and the heat
transfer stops. The standard unit for measuring heat transfer is the calorie. A calorie is
defined as the amount of energy required to raise the temperature of one gram of water from
14.5° C to 15.5° C. However, for our purposes, we can generalize this definition by simply
saying that a calorie is the amount of energy required to raise the temperature of one gram of
water one degree Celsius (the variation with temperature is slight). In this experiment, you
will combine hot and cold water of known temperature and mass. Using the definition of the
calorie, you will be able to determine the amount of heat energy that is transferred in bringing
the hot and cold water to their final common temperature, and thereby determine if heat
energy is conserved in this process.
Apparatus
 Calorimeters, 2 pieces
 Thermometer
 Balance
 Hot and cold water
Procedure
 The mass of the empty calorimeter, Mcal, was measured and the results recorded in
Table 1.1.
 The calorimeter was filled to about 1/3 full with cold water.
 The mass of the calorimeter and water together was measured to determine Mcal +
water cold and the results were recorded.
 A second calorimeter was filled to approximately 1/3 full of hot water. The water was
checked to be at least 20° C above room temperature. The weight of the calorimeter
and the water together was measured to determine Mcal + water hot and the results
recorded.
 Thot and Tcold were measured and the temperatures of the hot and cold water, and
results were recorded.
 Immediately after the temperatures were measured, the hot water was added to the
cold water and stired with the thermometer until the temperature stabilized. The final
temperature of the mixture was recorded, Tfinal.
 The final mass of the calorimeter and mixed water, Mfinal, was measured.
 The procedure was repeated twice with different masses of water at different
temperatures.
AUSTIN BODI OUMA APCS SCT-253-040/2021

Calculations and analysis

Table 1.1
Trial 1 Trial 2 Trial 3
Mcal 113.3g 114.5g 112.98g
Mcal + water cold 136.0g 137.6g 132.8g
Tcold 147.8g 145.5g 142.6g
Thot(oc) 22 22 22
Tfinal(oc) 58 56 60
Mfinal 179g 175.9g 173.9g

Table 1.2

Trial 1 Trial 2 Trial 3

Mwater cold 43.60g 43.60g 43.60g
Mwate hot 50.62g 50.62g 50.62g
Tcold(oc) 18.0 18.1 18.0
Thot(oc) 30.0 30.0 29.8
∆Hcold 784.8 784.8 784.8
∆Hhot 1518 1518 1518

Calculation and Analysis.

Mass of cold water = Mass of calorimeter plus cold water – mass of empty calorimeter.
=233.49-192.89 = 40.6g.
Mass of cold water = Mass of calorimeter plus cold water – mass of empty calorimeter.
=240.49-192.89 = 47.6g
Heat change in cold water = (Mwater cold)(change in Tcold)1 cal/g K.
=40.6 x (40-22) = 730.8cal
Heat change in hot water / Calorie = (Mhot water) g × (70-40) K × (1 cal/g K) = 1428cal.
1 Cal = 1 kcal = 10³ cal.
For cold water; - 730.6/10³ = 0.7306kcal.
For hot water; - 1428/10³ = 1.428kcal.
Error = actual value – experimented value or experimented value – actual.
Percentage error = (error/actual value) ×100%
The actual calorie for water is 1Cal=1kcal=4186j.
For cold water, % error = (1-0.7306) kcal/kcal ×100% = 26.96%.
AUSTIN BODI OUMA APCS SCT-253-040/2021

For hot water, % error = (1.428-1) kcal/kcal ×100% =42.8%.

If 200g of water at 85oC were added to 150g of water at 15oC, what would be the final
equilibrium temperature of the mixture?
From the law of conservation of energy, heat lost by hot water = heat gained by cold water.
200(85-T) = 150(T-15)
19250 = 350T,
T = 55oC

Discussion.
 Thermal energy /internal energy is the energy within a system that is responsible for
its temperature. It is equivalent to sum of kinetic and potential energy.
 Hot water had a higher thermal energy than cold water. In hot water, high temperature
increases the kinetic energy of the molecules or atoms thus, high thermal energy.
 Hot water had a higher mass than cold water but lower density. As temperature of a
matter increases, kinetic energy also increases thus, weakening the intermolecular
forces between molecules, the molecules spread out leading to a corresponding
increase in volume which reduces the density.
 Energy was not conserved, some energy was lost through heat gained by the
calorimeter, cold water and to the surrounding.
Possible sources of errors.
 Unwanted heat loss to the surrounding.
 Parallax error/human error might had been resulted while taking measurements of
temperature and mass.
 Instrument error. The measuring instruments were wrongly calibrated and
imperfection system set up.
Possible solutions.
 The calorimeter was insulated by adding a lid to prevent excessive heat loss to the
surrounding area.
 The readings were taken at eye level.
 Ensured the system was perfectly set up and the measuring instruments well
calibrated.
Conclusion.
After data analyzation in the experiment, it was found that the most common source of error
resulted from the unwanted heat loss to the surrounding area and it’s difficult to control it in
any experiment concerned with heat energy.
The amount of heat energy required to raise the temperature of a unit mass of water by one
degree Celsius was found to be approximately 4186j =1 Cal = 1kcal =10³cal
AUSTIN BODI OUMA APCS SCT-253-040/2021

Reference
1. Monk, P., & Wadsö, I. (1968). A flow micro reaction calorimeter. Acta chem.
scand, 22(6), 1842-1852.
2. O'neill, M. J. (1964). The Analysis of a Temperature-Controlled Scanning
Calorimeter. Analytical Chemistry, 36(7), 1238-1245.
3. Malyshev, V. M., Mil'ner, G. A., Shibakin, V. F., & Sorkin, E. L. (1986). Automatic
low-temperature calorimeter. Instrum. Exp. Tech.(Engl. Transl.);(United
States), 28(6 PT 2).
4. Lab manual.