A piece of unknown metal with mass 68.6 g is heated to an initial temperature of 100 °C and dropped into 8.4 g of water (with an initial temperature of 20 °C) in a calorimeter. The final temperature of the system is 52.1°C. The specific heat of water is 4.184 J/g*⁰C. What is the specific heat of the metal?
mass metal x specific heat metal x Tfinal-Tinitial) + (mass H2O x specific heat H2O x (Tfinal-Tinitial) = 0
Substitute the numbers and solve for specific heat metal.
Tfinal metal = 52.1
Tinitial metal = 100
Tfinal water = 52.1
Tinitial water = 20