specific heat capacity Flashcards
what is specific heat capacity
the amount of energy needed to raise the temperature of 1kg of a substance by 1*C per kilogram of mass
specific heat capacity equation
c= change in energy
————————–
mass x temperature change
how much the temperature of a system increases depends on (3)
- mass of substance heated
- type of material heated
- amount of energy put into system in form of thermal energy
what does specific heat capacity tell you
how hard it is to heat something up
if a substance has low heat capacity, then it is
easy to heat up and also cool down quickly
if a substance has a high heat capacity, then it
is hard to heat up, and doesn’t cool down quickly
how much the temperature of aa system increases depends on (3)
- mass of substance heated
- type of material
- amount of energy put into the system in the form of thermal energy
how do you calculate the specific heat capacity of a liquid
- measure the mass of an insulating container, add the liquid to the container and measure again, the difference in mass is the mass of the liquid in the container.
- put an insulating lid on the container and place the voltmeter in parallel with the immersion heater, the ammeter in series between heater and power supply.
- measure initial temp of liquid, then turn on the heater (low power)
- when liquid temp has increased by ten degrees, switch off and record temp increase and energy transferred to liquid from the joulemetre
- calculate specific heat capacity using formula
how do you calculate specific heat capacity in solids
- need a block of the solid and it needs to have 2 holes for the immersion heater and thermometer
- take initial temp
- heat it up slowly
- when it has increased by ten degrees turn it off
- do the same as for the liquid one