Elementary Classic Physics 1 Lab

Lab 11: Identifying a Material from its Specific Heat Capacity

James Albright
Partners: Nicole Diehl Alex Sauder

Section 291
TA: Roshan Timilsina
November 21, 2015

Abstract:
The purpose of this experiment is to determine the specific heat capacity of an
unknown metal. Then once that specific heat is found you can identify the
unknown metal. In this experiment we used the PASCO 750 to examine the
Temperature vs Time graphs for two or three different unknown metals. We also
observed heat flow by measuring how the temperature of an object was raised or
lowered when placed in either the steam generator or the Styrofoam cup filled with
cold water. By observing that we found that the law of conservation of energy also
applies to thermal energy. By using all of these principles our group was able to
find three different types of metals, aluminum, brass, and iron.
Introduction and Theory:
The purpose of this experiment is to find the specific heat of the unknown metal.
Specific heat cab be defined as the amount of heat per unit mass required to
raise the temperature by one degree Celsius. The equation for specific heat can
be derived from this equation: The first equation is the equation for T .
T =final temperature iniital temperature=Tf T i

The following equation is the equation for solving for specific heat. Where Q=
amount of heat, m= mass (kg), c= specific heat, and T is change in
Temperature.
Q=mcT

For this experiment we also studied the Law of Heat Exchange. This law cab be
defined as when two substances of different temperatures are placed together, the
amount of heat given up by the hot substance is equal to the amount of heat gained
by the colder substance. This law correlates with the Law of Conservation of
Energy which is defined from the book as a law of science that states that
energy cannot be created or destroyed, but only changed from one form into
another or transferred from one object to another. In simple terms when two
objects are in an isolated surrounding and brought into thermal contact, the heat
transferred from the hotter object is equal to the heat absorbed by the colder object.
Qh=Qc

From the following equations listed above there can be a simplified equation that
will be of great assistance during the experiment that will help us determine the
specific heat of an unknown metal. By solving for Cm in the following equation
you can use the chart to determine what the unknown metal is.
The equation states:
C

m=

C w M w (T final(w )T initial(w) )
M m (T initial(m )T fianl(m) )

Where Cm =Specificheat of metal

4.1813 J / gK
C w =Specific heat of water
M w =mass of the water
T final w =final temp of water ; T initial w =initial temp of water
M m=mass of metal
T initail m=initial temp of metal

; T final m=fianl temp of metal

Experiment Procedure:
This experiment has several different steps and all must be done correctly in order
to decrease error. The most important step to remember is Do not stop the graph
once the experiment has been started.
Step 1: Fill the steam generator about halfway full with water. But do not turn it on
yet. Also get a Styrofoam cup and fill it up 2/3rds with water from the sink.
Step 2: Set up the PASCO 750 with the thermometer reading in degrees Celsius or
Kelvins, doesnt matter, and time in seconds.
Step 3: Now that your graphs are all set up and ready to go, place the unknown
metal into the steam generator and turn it on to heat and click start on the computer
at the same time.
Step 4: Place the thermometer into the steam generator and wait until it reaches
above 50 Celsius. Once it has reached 50 turn off the steam generator, then wait
until the graphs starts to level out.

Step 5: Next place the thermometer into the Styrofoam cup until the temperature
remains steady on the graph.
Step 6: The next step is to place the block of metal into the Styrofoam cup. With
the string or tongs move the hot block of metal into the Styrofoam cup filled with
cold water. Once the block has been placed into the Styrofoam up try to stir up the
water a little so that the temperature is spread evenly throughout the water.
Step 7: Once the temperature of the water has remained steady or the same for
some time, click stop on the computer.
Step 8: This is how your graph should look, or similar to this.

Step 9: Now that your graph is complete you can now take the data from your
graph and plug it into to equation that was mentioned in the introduction and
theory section of this lab report.
For all other metals:
Repeat these steps again for the other unknown metal. You can empty your
Styrofoam cup of water or use the same water, doesnt matter.

Data and Graphs:

See attached sheets for the graphs of the three different unknown metals.
Calculations and Results:
See that attached sheets of paper for the calculations of the specific heat for the
three unknown metals.

Questions:
1.The

physical meaning of the slope of the graphs are. (see graph above).
A. The first slope increase is showing that the temperature of the steam
generator is increasing.
B. Then the graph begins to remain constant, this is because the steam
generator was turned off and thus the temperature remained roughly the
same.
C. The first downward slope represent the thermometer being transferred
into the cold cup of water, hence why the slope is so great, because it is
moving from hot to cold water.
D. After the steep decline in slope the graph again starts to remain constant
since the thermometer has adjusted from going from the hot steam generator
to the cold cup of water.
E. After the constant slope the graph begins to increase because the hot piece
of metal is placed into the cup of water causing the temperature to rise
slightly.
F. The last line shows that temperature of the cup and from the hot piece of
metal have neutralized.

The best fit value of the slop of the aluminum/water compare slightly different
than the known values for aluminum/ water. For aluminum we calculated the
specific heat capacity to be 0.737 compared to the known value of aluminum
which is 0.897.
2.

3. Our

group was very confident in identifying the unknown metals because our
calculated specific heat capacity seemed to be very close and actuate to the known
specific heat of aluminum brass and iron. (see chart on next page)

Metal

Calculated Specific Heat

Known Specific Heat

Capacity (cal/g/C)

Capacity (cal/g/C)

BRASS

0.2916

0.377

ALUMINUM

0.737

0.897

IRON

0.4155

0.450

4. Some

of the uncertainties from our data could have been eliminated if we would
have had the same person doing each step of the experiment each time. Other
errors that could have been eliminated are discussed in the question 5 and the
conclusion.
There are some things that could have been done more precisely in order to get a
more confident answer. The biggest thing that came to my mind was to be sure that
you stir the water in the Styrofoam cup once the metal block is placed into it. Our
group noticed that if you didnt stir the water, the temperature didnt raise as much.
One other thing that could eliminate some error would be to let the water in the
steam generator come down to where it is room temperature instead of doing
another experiment after you just did one.
5.

Conclusions:
The purpose of this experiment/lab was to identify an unknown metal by finding it
specific heat capacity. We were able to identify the metal aluminum, brass, and
iron. The most important purpose of this lab was to show that Law of Conservation
of Energy also applies to thermal energy. This experiment also taught us how to
use the equations (located in the theory section) to solve for specific heat of
unknown objects. I believe that we performed our experiment pretty accurate. Our
first trial was messed up however, so we discarded that one. We discarded it
because we did not transfer the piece of metal into the Styrofoam cup at the right
time, which messed up our graphs. The rest of our computed results seemed to be
pretty close to the chart for specific heat capacities.