Investigating The Specific Heat Capacity Of Brass Using Calorimetry

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Aim: To determine the specific heat capacity of brass using calorimetry, the understanding of the relationship between heat and temperature and the concept of heat transfer, using the equation; Q=mc∆T. Also to evaluate the data collected by comparing the experimental value to the accepted value using analytical skills.

Method:
• We heated up a brass weight by immersing it into boiling water for a while in order to assure that the metal’s temperature was the same as of the water.
• We then placed the brass weight into the calorimeter and took a series of readings of the temperature of the water inside in order to find the maximum temperature reached.
• We found the value of heat added to the cold water and the inner cup of the calorimeter by using our measurements and inserting it into the equation Q=mc∆T.
• We found the value of heat taken from the brass weight also, using the same equation.
• The specific heat capacity of the brass weight was then calculating by manipulating the fact that the heat taken from the brass weight is equal to the negative value of the heat added to the cold water.
We followed the method given in the lab manual for the most part, with the following considerations in order to reduce systematic errors.
• We ensured that the same scale was used for every weight measurement made for the purpose of this experiment. This was to avoid systematic errors due to the possibility of slight discrepancies in the accuracy of the different scales.
• We ensured that the person reading the thermometer avoided parallax and therefore systematic error by ensuring that their eyes were parallel to the level of liquid inside.
• We ensured that there was minimal volume of water transferred from the vessel containing the bo...

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...o move the ice freezer to the table where our setup is in order to minimize the contact of the ice with the atmosphere and the carrying vessel in order to minimize the amount of ice melted. This would decrease systematic error by consequently decreasing the calculated value of Lf.

Conclusion:
By using calorimetry, our understanding of the transfer of heat and the relationship between heat and temperature, we determined that the latent heat of melting of the ice was 3.4105Jkg-1 ± 0.6105 kg-1.
This value agrees with the accepted value, and we were able to identify the possible major causes in the slight discrepancies as random error and possibly systematic error due to the traveling distance between the freezer and the set up by comparing the percentage deviation and the final percentage of uncertainty, and also by critically evaluating our method of the experiment.

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