Question

Im having trouble understanding what the question is asking?

Answer 1

If you want to determine what metal you have, and you know it is a pure metal, it can be identified simply by knowing its specific heat capacity `C_P` in `"J/g"^@ "C"`, i.e. how much heat it takes to raise `"1 g"` of the substance temperature by `1^@ "C"`.

Heat flow `q` is the amount of heat content in `"J"` flowing through a substance, which causes it to change in temperature. Knowing `q` and the change in temperature, `DeltaT`, as well as the mass of the substance in `"g"`, the heat capacity can be determined:

`q = mC_PDeltaT`

We were given:

• `m = "15.0 g"`
• `C_P = ???`
• `DeltaT = T_f - T_i = 18.8^@ "C" - 17.7^@ "C"`
• `q = "6.35 J"`

Therefore:

`C_P = q/(mDeltaT)`

`= ("6.35 J")/("15.0 g" xx (18.8^@ "C" - 17.7^@ "C"))`

`= color(blue)("0.385 J/g"^@ "C" -= C_(P("Cu")))`