Thermal Physics - s.h.c

In the next few posts, i will try to understand what thermal physics is. The diffrent aspects of thermal physics shall be covered.

As for this particular post, the topic I will be covering is the specifc heat capacities of substances. The specific heat capacity is the amount of energy in joules requred to rase the tempereture of a kilogram mass of a substance by 1 Kelvin.

c = xJ/kgK

where: c is the specific heat capacity,
x is the number of joules (amt. of energy)

e.g. the specific heat capacity of water is 4200J, therefore it is represented as:

c(water) = 4200J/kgK

enough said about formulae. Now, how exactly do we determine the specific heat capacity of a substance? In this experiment, i will attempt to find the specific heat capacity of copper.

The apparatus needed are: 1 calorimeter, 1 100g mass of copper, 1 balance scale, ice, 1 thermometer, 1 bunsen burner, 1 glass rod, string.

1. Half fill the calorimeter with water, record the temperature as T(1).
2. Weigh the mass of the calorimeter, record the mass as M(1).
3. Put the current apparatus aside. Prepare a boiling beaker of water on a flame.
4. Attach the copper mass on the glass rod using the string.
5. Immerse the copper mass into the boiling water for 2 minutes
6. Record temperature of boiling water while copper mass is inside, record as T(2).
7. Take the copper mass out and put it in the calorimeter.
8. Measure the temperature of the copper mass, NOT THE WATER!
9. When the temperature of the copper mass has reached thermal equillibrium with the water, measure the diffrence in temperature of: 1) the room temperature water and water
after thermal equillibrium. 2) boiling water and copper mass after thermal equillibrium.
10. The s.h.c of water is 4200J/kgK. use this to calculate how much energy was gained by the water.
11. Using energy lost = energy gained, we can tell how much energy the copper mass lost.
12. Take the amount of energy lost by the copper mass and divide it by the change in the copper mass' temperature, that value is the s.h.c of copper in the form xJ/(100g)(K).
13. Take the value and multiply it by ten, then you will obtain the s.h.c of copper in the form xJ/kgK

We can use this method to find the s.h.c of many diffrent substances, so please, go and try it out!

How is specific heat capacity so far? This is only the beginning, next time I post, I shall cover the factors that affect scecific heat capacity and the symbols used in the calculation of specific heat capacity.

That is all I have for today. Thank You.