An object with a mass of #125 g# is dropped into #750 mL# of water at #0^@C#. If the object cools by #40 ^@C# and the water warms by #3 ^@C#, what is the specific heat of the material that the object is made of?
1 Answer
Explanation:
Because energy is conserved, the heat gained by the water equals the heat lost by the object.
The minus sign is there because one object is losing heat while the other is absorbing heat.
The specific heat of water is known,
1 mL of water is the same as 1 gram of water so
We have that
Substitute known values and obtain:
If you want the units of the answer to be in terms of calories,