How many calories will be needed to melt that 50 grams of snow (report as 1 significant figure)?
50 g H2O x 80 cal/g = ?
thanks DrBob222
To determine the number of calories needed to melt 50 grams of snow, we can use the specific heat of fusion for water. The specific heat of fusion is the amount of heat energy required to convert a substance from a solid to a liquid phase without changing its temperature.
The specific heat of fusion for water is approximately 334 J/g. We can convert this value to calories by dividing it by 4.184 (since there are 4.184 joules in 1 calorie).
334 J/g ÷ 4.184 = 79.84 cal/g
Next, we multiply the specific heat of fusion (79.84 cal/g) by the mass of the snow (50 grams) to determine the total calories needed.
79.84 cal/g × 50 g = 3992 cal
Since we want to report the answer with one significant figure, we round the value to the nearest calorie:
3992 cal ≈ 4000 cal
Therefore, approximately 4000 calories would be needed to melt 50 grams of snow.