A student found an unknown substance. In an effort to identify the thermal properties of the substance, she isolated a specimen of 47 gram, and applied 290 J of heat energy to the specimen. If she measured the temperature of the specimen changed from 20 ° C to 25.7 ° C, what is the specific heat of the unknown substance?
How exactly do I do that?
Specific heat =
=(heat added)/[temperature change)*mass)]
= 290 J/[5.7 C *47 g] = 1.082 J/(C g)
Thank you DR. Wls your a life saver.
To determine the specific heat of the unknown substance, you need to use the formula:
Q = mcΔT
where Q is the heat energy applied to the substance, m is the mass of the substance, c is the specific heat of the substance, and ΔT is the change in temperature.
In this case, you know that the mass of the specimen is 47 grams, the heat energy applied is 290 J, the initial temperature is 20 °C, and the final temperature is 25.7 °C.
First, calculate the change in temperature (ΔT) by subtracting the initial temperature from the final temperature:
ΔT = final temperature - initial temperature
ΔT = 25.7 °C - 20 °C
ΔT = 5.7 °C
Next, plug all the known values into the formula and solve for the specific heat (c):
Q = mcΔT
290 J = (47 g) × c × (5.7 °C)
To solve for c, rearrange the equation:
c = (290 J) / [(47 g) × (5.7 °C)]
Now, substitute the values:
c = 290 J / (267.9 g.°C)
c ≈ 1.081 J/g.°C
The specific heat of the unknown substance is approximately 1.081 J/g.°C.