Question

A sample of an unknown substance has a mass of 0.158 kg. If 2,510.0 J of heat is required to heat the substance from 32.0°C to 61.0°C, what is the specific heat of the substance?
0.171 J/(gi°C)
0.548 J/(gi°C)
15.9 J/(gi°C)
86.6 J/(gi°C)

Answer 1

Specific heat is the amount of heat absorb or released by a substance to change the temperature to one degree Celsius. To determine the specific heat, we use the expression for the heat absorbed by the system. Heat gained or absorbed in a system can be calculated by multiplying the given mass to the specific heat capacity of the substance and the temperature difference. It is expressed as follows:

Heat = mC(T2-T1)

By substituting the given values, we can calculate for C which is the specific heat of the material.

2510 J = .158 kg ( 1000 g / 1 kg) (C) ( 61.0 - 32.0 °C)
C = 0.5478 J / g °C