MECHANICAL ENGINEERING LABORATORY - II

COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING
MECHANICAL ENGINEERING DEPARTMENT
EXERCISE / EXPERIMENT #

Specific Heat of Metals

And
Calorimetry
TITLE

DATE PERFORMED:

DATE SUBMITTED:

JUN. 28, 2016

JUN. 30, 2016

FENOL, MELCHOR M.
BS M.E 4

ENGR. RIZAL M. MOSQUERA

INSTRUCTOR

Specific Heat of Metals

The specific heat is the amount of heat per unit mass required to raise the temperature by
one degree Celsius. The relationship between heat and temperature change is usually expressed
in the form shown below where c is the specific heat. The relationship does not apply if a phase
change is encountered, because the heat added or removed during a phase change does not
change the temperature.

The specific heat of water is 1 calorie/gram C = 4.186 joule/gram C which is higher

than any other common substance. As a result, water plays a very important role in temperature
regulation. The specific heat per gram for water is much higher than that for a metal, as described
in the water-metal example. For most purposes, it is more meaningful to compare the molar
specific heats of substances.
The molar specific heats of most solids at room temperature and above are nearly
constant, in agreement with the Law of Dulong and Petit. At lower temperatures the specific
heats drop as quantum processes become significant. The low temperature behavior is described
by the Einstein-Debye model of specific heat.

Specific Heat Definition

Specific heat c of a substance is defined as the heat capacity of the substance per unit
mass of the substance. Therefore, if energy Q is given to the substance having mass m, and it
results in the change in the temperature of the substance by T. Hence, Specific Heat of the
substance is

c = QmT
Specific Heat Capacity
Heat capacity of a substance is denoted by C. It is defined as the amount of energy which
is required to increase the temperature of the substance by 1C. According to the definition, if
heat Q given to the substance increases the temperature of the substance by TT, then

Q = CT
Specific Heat Formula
Specific heat is essentially a measure of how thermally insensitive a substance is to the
addition of energy. If the specific heat capacity of a substance is more, then for a given mass m
of a substance, for a particular T temperature change, more energy Q needs to be transferred
to the substance as compared to the second substance having less specific heat capacity.
Therefore, more the specific heat capacity, more energy needs to be transferred to the substance
if the other conditions (Q, m,T ) are same.
Formula for specific heat can be written as,

c = QmT
Specific Heat Table

Specific Heat Table for some of the substances is given below at 25 0C and Standard
Atmospheric pressure

Substance

Specific Heat(J/kg. C)

Specific Heat of Beryllium

1830

Specific Heat of Cadmium

230

Specific Heat of Copper

387

Specific Heat of Germanium

322

Specific Heat of Gold

129

Specific Heat of Iron

448

Specific Heat of Lead

128

Specific Heat of Silicon

703

Specific Heat of Silver

234

Specific Heat of Brass

380

Specific Heat of Glass

837

Specific Heat of Ice(-5C)

2090

Specific Heat of Marble

860

Specific Heat of Wood

1700

Specific Heat of Alcohol(ethyl)

2400

Specific Heat of Mercury

140

Specific Heat of Water(15C)

4186

Specific Heat of Steam(100C)

2010

Specific Heat of Aluminium

900

Specific Heat of Tin

540

Specific Heat of Steel

120

Specific Heat of Sand

830

Specific Heat of Ethanol (Alcohol, ethyl

32F)

2.3 K

Calorimetry
is the science or act of measuring changes in state variables of a body for the purpose of
deriving the heat transferassociated with changes of its state due for example to chemical
reactions, physical changes, or phase transitions under specified constraints. Calorimetry is
performed with a calorimeter. The word calorimetry is derived from the Latin word calor,
meaning heat and the Greek word (metron), meaning measure. Scottish physician and
scientist Joseph Black, who was the first to recognize the distinction
between heat and temperature, is said to be the founder of the science of calorimetry.
Indirect Calorimetry calculates heat that living organisms produce by measuring either
their production of carbon dioxide and nitrogen waste (frequently ammonia in aquatic organisms,
or urea in terrestrial ones), or from their consumption of oxygen. Lavoisier noted in 1780 that
heat production can be predicted from oxygen consumption this way, using multiple regression.
The Dynamic Energy Budget theory explains why this procedure is correct. Heat generated by
living organisms may also be measured by direct calorimetry, in which the entire organism is
placed inside the calorimeter for the measurement.
A widely used modern instrument is the differential scanning calorimeter, a device which
allows thermal data to be obtained on small amounts of material. It involves heating the sample
at a controlled rate and recording the heat flow either into or from the specimen.

Applications of calorimetry
Calorimetry is a method to measure the heat effect of a process,which could be physical
changes, such as melting, evaporation, dehydration (could also be defined as chemical change),
or it can be a chemical change, such as acid-base neutralization, dissolving, solid-state reaction,
and crystal phase transition. Calorimeter is an instrument which determines heat effect in it by
directly measurement of temperature. Calorimetry is well applied in thermochemistry field, by
determining the enthalpy formation trends, phase stability, heat capacity, surface effect, etc. This
content contains theory, introduction of different calorimeters, and will focus on the application
of high temperature oxide melt solution calorimetry in the study of different materials, such as
nanomaterial, ceramics, zeolite.

Coffee Cup Calorimeter (Calorimetry with constant pressure)

Figure 1: Coffee cup calorimeter

As a simple calorimeter for thermochemistry lab, coffee cup calorimeter uses Styrofoam
cups with insulated lid to prevent the heat lose and thermometer to measure the temperature
changing. It works at atmosphere pressure which is assumed as a constant. Since the enthalpy
changing is equal to heat transfer at constant pressure(H=qp), this calorimeter can be used
easily to measure the enthalpy change of some simple processes, like fusion enthalpy, dissolving
enthalpy,and determine the heat capacity (Cp) of material, such as metals. This calorimeter
usually works with well heat conducting solvents for measure convenience, such as water and
must be calibrated by a material with known heat capacity. In this type of calorimeter, heat is a
function of temperature difference, which can be written in formula:

H=qp=mcT tag1H=qp=mcT tag1

In which: H is the enthalpy change; qpis heat at constant pressure(J), m is mass(g), c is
specific heat capacity of the material (J/kg), T is the temperature difference(k).

Bomb Calorimetry (Calorimetry with constant volume)

Fig.2 Bomb calorimeters

Bomb calorimeter is an isolated system and has constant volume. The bomb is a sealed
container for the reaction occurring, and the heat of reaction will transfer to the water or oil in
the inner container. The temperature changing of the water is used to calculate the heat of
reaction. Bomb calorimeter is suitable for study of combustion reaction. The ignition of sample
will be done by electricity connecting to the sample holder in the bomb. This system is adiabatic,
so there is no heat transfer between calorimeter and surrounding, q=0. For a process of
combustion, the initial temperature is T1 and the final temperature is T2.

Then the overall change of internal energy of system is Uoverall=0

So the change of internal energy of combustion of sample U1 and changing of internal energy of
water U2 are related by:
U1+U2=0
U1 =-U2
Since the process is at constant volume, Cv is the constant heat capacity of calorimeter and water.
U2=CvT
The enthalpy of combustion can be calculated by:
Hc=U1+PV= -U2+nRT
In which n is the change of moles of gas during the combustion. Thus, by measuring the heat
change of water, enthalpy of combustion can be obtained.

Reference: wikipedia.com