I had a lab about calorimetry where we would have a temperature probe in a calorimeter cup and then pour hot water into it to form a mixture until our graph (automatically plotted from the data that's recorded by the computer). Now for the report they ask us to draw a vertical line at where we poured in the hot water. Then a horizontal line at where the cold water was and another horizontal line for the downward curve of the hot water. That would give us our points Tc and Tf for cold and final. Now my question is, they ask us to explain to them how we got the temperatures Tc and Tf, now is there a way to calculate this? They don't give us any information on the graph, like no slope or anything.

Question

I had a lab about calorimetry where we would have a temperature probe in a calorimeter cup and then pour hot water into it to form a mixture until our graph (automatically plotted from the data that's recorded by the computer). Now for the report they ask us to draw a vertical line at where we poured in the hot water. Then a horizontal line at where the cold water was and another horizontal line for the downward curve of the hot water. That would give us our points Tc and Tf for cold and final. Now my question is, they ask us to explain to them how we got the temperatures Tc and Tf, now is there a way to calculate this? They don't give us any information on the graph, like no slope or anything.

Answer 1

Plus, would that be the temperature I use in my calculations of Heat, or do I take the initial temperature of my column and the final one? I doubt it's this though

Answer 2

so I found out I need to extrapolate the temperature, but how do I do that, if I only have a graph and no other information

Answer 3

To calculate the temperatures Tc (initial temperature of cold water) and Tf (final temperature of the mixture), you would need additional information about the experiment. However, based on the information you provided, it seems like those temperatures were obtained experimentally and therefore cannot be determined solely from the graph without additional data.

To explain how you obtained the temperatures Tc and Tf, you can describe the procedure you followed during the experiment. Here's a step-by-step explanation you can provide:

1. At the beginning of the experiment, measure the initial temperature of the cold water (Tc) using a temperature probe. This is the temperature of the water before any hot water is added.

2. Pour hot water into the calorimeter cup until it reaches a suitable level. As you mentioned, a graph is automatically plotted using data recorded by the computer.

3. As the hot water is added, the temperature probe measures the change in temperature, and this is recorded by the computer as well.

4. As time progresses, the temperature of the mixture increases, and the temperature probe continuously records the data.

5. Eventually, the temperature of the mixture begins to decrease, reaching a final temperature (Tf). This is the temperature of the mixture after the temperature peaked and started to decline.

Based on this procedure, you can explain that you obtained the temperatures Tc and Tf experimentally by measuring the initial temperature of the cold water before adding any hot water (Tc), and by monitoring the temperature change of the mixture until it began to decrease and reach its final temperature (Tf).

Note that if you have access to the raw data recorded by the computer, you can also refer to the specific time or data point when the temperature began to decrease, as this would help in identifying the exact value for Tf.