Question

The initial temperature of a bomb calorimeter is 28.50°C. When a chemist carries out a reaction in this calorimeter, its temperature decreases to 27.45°C. If the calorimeter has a mass of 1.400 kg and a specific heat of 3.52 J/(gi°C), how much heat is absorbed by the reaction?

Answer 1

The answer is 5,170 J

Answer 2

Converting the specific heat into kJ/kg°C, we get that the specific heat capacity is 3.52 kJ/kg°C
Now, we use the equation:
Q = mcΔT, where Q is the heat energy, m is the mass of substance, c is the specific heat capacity and ΔT is the change in temperature of the mass of substance. Substituting these values, we get:
Q = 1.4 x 3.52 x (27.45 - 28.5)
Q = -5.17 kJ

The reaction absorbs 5.17 kilojoules of energy.