Question

When the same amount of heat is added to 50.0 g of each substance, which of the following will have the smallest temperature increase?

Answer 1

Answer:

Aluminium

Explanation:

When a certain amount of heat is supplied to a substance, the temperature of the substance increases according to the equation:

$\Delta T = \frac{Q}{mC}$

where

$\Delta T$ is the increase in temperature

Q is the amount of heat supplied to the substance

m is the mass of the substance

C is the specific heat capacity of the substance

Here the four substances have the same mass,

m = 50.0 g

Also, the amount of heat supplied to the 4 substances is the same. This means that their increase in temperature is inversely proportional to their specific heat capacity:

$\Delta T \propto \frac{1}{C}$

Therefore, the substance with the highest specific heat capacity will have the smallest temperature increase: by comparing the values in the table, we see that alluminium has the highest specific heat capacity (0.90 J/gC), therefore it will have the smallest temperature increase.