Question

A group of students decides to set up an experiment in which they will measure the specific heat of a small amount of metal. The metal has a mass of about 5 grams.
They hang the metal in a beaker of boiling water for a long time (10 minutes or so). Then, they very quickly (within a few seconds) remove the metal from the boiling water and transfer it to a styrofoam cup of 150 mL of water at room temperature. There is a thermometer in the styrofoam cup. They know that the rise in temperature will tell them what they need to know in order to determine the specific heat of the metal, so they watch the thermometer closely... but nothing happens. The temperature does not appear to change at all.

Each student has a different suggestion for how to improve the experiment. Which of the suggestions is least likely to help?

A. Use less room temperature water in the styrofoam cup
B. Use more metal (50 grams instead of 5 grams)
C. Use more boiling water in the first beaker
D. Use a more sensitive thermometer.

Answer 1

I think the answer is C