Question

Two 10g blocks, one of copper and one of iron, were heated from 300 K to 400K (a temperature difference of 100 K).

Answer 1

1) 385 J

2) 450 J

Explanation:

1)

The amount of energy that must be absorbed by a certain substance in order to increase its temperature by $\Delta T$ is given by the equation:

$Q=mC\Delta T$

where

m is the mass of the substance

C is its specific heat capacity

$\Delta T$ is the increase in temperature of the substance

For the block of copper in this problem, we have:

m = 10 g is the mass

$C=0.385 J/gK$ is the specific heat capacity of copper

$\Delta T=400-300 = 100 K$ is the change in temperature

So, the energy absorbed by the block of copper is

$Q=(10)(0.385)(100)=385 J$

2)

Similarly for the block of iron, the energy absorbed by the iron is given by

$Q=mC\Delta T$

where

m is the mass of the block of iron

C is its specific heat capacity of iron

$\Delta T$ is the increase in temperature of the block

Here we have:

m = 10 g is the mass of the block

$C=0.450 J/gK$ is the specific heat capacity of iron

$\Delta T=400-300 = 100 K$ is the change in temperature

So, the energy absorbed by the block of iron is

$Q=(10)(0.450)(100)=450 J$