Question

In an experiment to measure the specific heat capacity of aluminium, identical size copper and aluminium blocks were alternately placed in an insulated calorimeter and heated by an electrical heater. The electrical heater supplied an identical energy E to the metal blocks. It was assumed that the heat loss (h) from both calorimeter measurements was identical. The measured masses were 530 g for the aluminium block and 1700 g for the copper block. The temperature rises were 15.3oC for the aluminium block and 11.5oC for the copper block. The specific heat capacity of copper is 389 J kg-1 oC -1 . State the heat capacity equation. Hence by considering the energetics of heating the two blocks, derive the equation relating the specific heat capacity of aluminium (CA) to the other measurements and determine the value of CA. State any assumption(s) you have made in relation to heat loss for this calculation

Answer 1