To determine the specific heat of an object, a student heats it to 100 degree C

Question

To determine the specific heat of an object, a student heats it to 100 degree C in boiling water. She then places the 90.1 g object in a 157 g aluminum calorimeter containing 118 g of water. The aluminum and water are initially at a temperature of 19.8 degree C, and are thermally insulated from their surroundings. If the final temperature is 24.0 degree C, what is the specific heat of the object? Express your answer using two significant figures. Referring to the table, identify the material in the object.

Explanation / Answer

The heat given up by the water and aluminum are:
specific heat of water is 4.186 kJ/kgC
specific heat of Aluminum is 900 J/kgC
E1 = 4186 J/kgC x .118 x 4.2 = 2074.58 J
E2 = 900 J/kgC x .157 x 4.2 = 593.46 J

this total of 2668.04 J is removed from the unknown in cooling from 100 to 24C

2668.04 = X J/kgC x .0901 x 76C
X = 389.6 J/kgC
Copper

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