Question

A 400-g piece of copper, initially at 46.4°C, is dropped into 280 g of water contained in a 320 g aluminum can; the water and can are initially at 15.0°C. What is the final temperature of the system? (Specific heats of copper and aluminum are 0.092 and 0.215 cal/g · °C, respectively.)

A) 16°C

B) 18°C

C) 24°C

D) 26°C

E) None of those answers

Answer 1

Copper piece is dropped into water which is contained in aluminum container. Since copper is hot so heat will be lost by copper piece and heat will be gained by water and the aluminum container also.

Here we can use principle of mixture, according to this principle when there is no loss of heat, the heat lost by hot substance is equal to heat gained by cold substance.

Here I have used formula for heat = mass x specific heat x change in temperature.

Solution is attached on a scanned sheet here.

Answer is option B 18⁰C