Heat Capacity of An Unknown Metal

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Heat Capacity of An Unknown Metal

Purpose:

The purpose of performing this lab was to find the specific heat capacity of an unknown metal.

Hypothesis:

Since all metals have different densities and makeups I think that the heat capacity will greatly vary. The makeup of iron is very different than aluminum so the heat capacity will be quite different. Also, a lot of metals are not completely pure and that will also have some effect on the heat capacity.

Materials:

-Hot Plate

-Two (2) Beakers

-Water

-Metal Objects

-Two (2) Thermometers

-Pencil

-Paper

-Calculator

Design:

A hot plate is acquired and plugged in and if left to warm up. Fill two beakers with 0.075kg of water and record the temperature using a thermometer and record it. Place one of the beakers onto the hot plate and drop one of the metal objects in. Wait for the water to boil and wait two minutes. Take the object out of the water and drop it into the other beaker. Take the temperature of the beaker and record the rise in temperature.

Repeat this exact process for how ever many objects you have to test.

Procedure:

1. Plug in the hot plate

2. Fill two beakers with 0.075kg of water

3. Select your metal objects

4. Record the starting temperature of the water

5. Place a beaker onto the hot plate and drop a metal object in

6. Wait until the water boils and record the temperature to make sure that it is 100 degrees

7. Wait two minutes

8. Remove the metal object from the first beaker and insert it into the second one.

9. Record the change in temperature after the object has been placed into the water.

10. Repeat this exact process for how ever many objects you have to test.

Observations:

In this lab I observed that the temperature ...

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... possible was our thermometer that was used to measure the cold water temperature change. When it was set down for all of our experiments it was put near the hot plate which was making the counter quite hot. This could have given some skewed readings when it was used to measure the temperature. As stated in the hypothesis it was thought that all of the metals have a different makeup so the heat capacity was going to vary between metals. The findings in this lab prove this to be true. So if one is trying to determine what an unknown metal is made up of, this experiment would be an adequate solution. Once you find your values, compare them to a thermal conductivity chart and compare to find the metal. Based on the data collected throughout the lab, I can conclude that my hypothesis was correct. A metals heat capacity is determined by the makeup and density of a metal.

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