Figure 1 Set up for determining the specific heat

Figure 2 weighing Scale showing the weight of Calorimeter

DULAY, Anthony Mark V.
anthonydulay0431@gmail.com

E302: Heat and Calorimetry
METHODOLOGY
Part1. Determining the specific heat of
metals.
The group measured the mass of the
aluminium metal, the inner calorimeter and
the water using the digital weighing scale in
grams. After that, they boiled some water
on the beaker using an electric stove. They
wait for approximately ten minutes before
they submerged the aluminium and copper
metals on it. Since it is hard to measure the
initial temperature of metal using a
thermometer they let it 100
o
C. Before they
put the aluminium inside the calorimeter to
determine the final temperature, it is
important to know first the initial
temperature inside the calorimeter that is
needed to compute for the specific heat
using the Law of Heat exchange (eq. 1) and
the Heat Content (eq. 2) After gathering the
data for the aluminium metal, the group
computed the percentage error and repeat
the procedure using the copper metal.

Q
LOSS
=Q
GAINED
(eq1)

Q= mct (eq2)




A.) Thermometer- device used for
measuring the temperature of water
and metals
B.) Calorimeter- a device used to
measure the absorbed or released
heat.
C.) Aluminum and Copper Metal- one of
the main materials needed in the
experiment. The experimental value
was determined.
D.) Beaker- used to hold the boiling
water
E.) Electric Stove- Used to heat the
water.
F.) Digital Weighing Scale- used to know
the mass of the materials.

Part2. Determining the latent heat of fusion
of ice.


Figure 3 Front View of Calorimeter using Shapes in MS
Word
Using the digital weighing scale, the mass of
the inner calorimeter and the initial mass of
water was measured as well as, the initial
temperature using a thermometer. Some
members look for some ice from the
laboratory assistant and put it inside the
calorimeter. They wait until the ice melted
to make sure that the temperature is
A
B
C
D
F
E
E
Table 1. Specific heat of Aluminum and Copper (experimental
value)

Table 2. Latent Heat (Experimental)
distributed all over the calorimeter and then
measured the final temperature. Since the
group cannot get the mass of the ice
directly they just subtracted the initial mass
from the total mass of the mixture to get
the mass of the ice and using the equations
1, 2 and 3

Q= mL
F
; Q = mL
V
(eq 3)

To compute for the value of heat and
fusion, and after gathering all the data the
group computed the percentage error and
they use the 80 cal/g as the actual value
and repeat for another trial.

DATA AND RESULTS

Part 1.Determining the Specific Heat of Metals

Trial 1.
Aluminum
Metal
Trial 2.
Copper
Metal
Mass of metal, m
m
18.3 g 29.8 g
Mass of calorimeter,
m
c
58.9 g 58.9 g
Mass of water, m
w
221.7 g 227.4 g
Initial temperature of
metal, t
om
100
o
C 100
o
C
Initial temperature of
calorimeter, t
oc
30.5
o
C 30
o
C
Initial temperature of
water, t
ow
30.5
o
C 30
o
C
Final Temperature of
mixture, t
mix
32
o
C 31
o
C
Experimental specific
heat of metal, c
m
0.28 cal/
g-C
o

0.11 cal/
g-C
o

Actual specific heat of
metal, c
m
0.22 cal/
g-C
o

0.09 cal/
g-C
o

Percentage of error
30.02% 21.53 %

SAMPLE COMPUTATION
Part I.
Given:

Part2. Latent Heat of Fusion Ice
Trial 1 Trial 2
Mass of
calorimeter, mc
58.9 g 58.9 g
Mass of water,
mw
227.2 g 227 g
Mass of mixture,
mmix
300.6 g 301.1 g
Mass of ice, mi
14.5 g 15.2 g
Initial
temperature of
ice, tot
0
o
C 0
o
C
Initial
temperature of
calorimeter, toc
30.5
o
C 30
o
C
Initial
temperature of
water, tow
30.5
o
C 30
o
C
Final temperature
of mixture, tmix
24
o
C 26
o
C
Experimental
Latent heat of
fusion, LF
83.59
cal/g
37.11
cal/g
Actual specific
latent heat of
fusion, LF
80 cal/g 80 cal/g
Percentage of
Error
4.49 % 53.62 %
Solution:

() (

) [] ()()[]
[]

TRIAL 1 (aluminum)
Given:
L
o= 703mm
t
rm=
27
o
C
t
hot
= 81
o
C
t= 81
o
C - 27
o
C = 54
o
C
L=1.1mm

actual
= 23.8x10
-6
/C
o

Solution:

( )
2.8976x10
-5
/C
o

= 21.7493 %







TRIAL 1 (Copper)
Given:
L
o= 703mm
t
rm=
28
o
C
t
hot
= 82
o
C
t= 82
o
C - 28
o
C = 54
o
C
L=0.82mm

actual
= 16.8x10
-6
/C
o

Solution:

( )
2.16x10
-5
/C
o

= 25.57 %



DISCUSSION

Performing this kind of experiment will not
always give you accurate data, considering
many factors such as, the materials or
apparatus, laboratory room, and the human
errors.

First thing that we have observed is the
room for the experiment is not ideal to do it
especially to the groups near the aircon
because the experiment is all about linear
expansion and it involves heating, and the
% 61 . 70 %
% 100
2174 . 0
3709 . 0 2174 . 0
%
% 100 %

E
E
AV
EV AV
E
distribution of heat became inconsistent.
Second, the measurement of initial length of
the tube is not accurate since we use meter
stick in cm and even one decimal point error
could make a big adjustment on the actual
data. Another error is on the dial gauge and
digital multi tester because on some trials I
observed that the pointer is not on zero and
the value displays by the tester is not
consistent and it affects the change in
length as well as the coefficient of linear
expansion.

Setting up the experiment takes time than
gathering the data, because we need to
lessen the error we might encounter, we
check everything, and it should be almost
perfect so that we can get a smaller value
of percent error for example, in placing the
tube in expansion apparatus should be
pinned very tight. And since we made
different trials every time we repeat to put
another tube we feel that the tube is still
hot and it affects the temperature and its
resistance. In the data, the change in length
of the aluminium tube is greater than the
copper tube with .28 mm, that gives the
aluminium to have greater initial resistance
than the copper, other than that some of
the result of each tube was almost the same
it might be because of the human error and
inconsistency of digital multi tester. If we
just performed the experiment in other
room with normal temperature we might
improve our data to be more accurate.

CONCLUSION

The objectives of this experiment which are
to determine the coefficient of linear
expansion of the aluminum tube and copper
tube, and to determine the factors affecting
the change in length in thermal expansion
are met.

There are three main factors that affect the
coefficient of the linear expansion. The
coefficient of the linear expansion depends
greatly on the objects change in length,
initial length and the change in temperature
that has occurred. Also, there is a direct
proportionality between the coefficient of
linear expansion to the change in length of
the object and there is an inversely
proportionality between the coefficient of
linear expansion to the initial length of the
object and its change in temperature.

The object will expand when the
temperature is high because the molecules
of the object vibrate greater than the object
that has lower temperature. In this
experiment, between the aluminum tube
and copper tube, the aluminum tube
expands more than the copper length.
Based on the experiment, the aluminum has
greater coefficient of the linear expansion
than that of copper tube. The ability of the
aluminum to expand more than the copper
tube is that, the molecular weight of the
aluminum tube is lesser that the molecular
weight of the copper tube. Thus, the
molecules on the aluminum tube can
expand easily than the molecules on the
copper tube.

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

Performing an experiment with your friends
is one way that made everything becomes
easy because effective communication is
always essential to success. I would like to
thank my group mates who help each other
to complete and finish this lab report.
Secondly I would also like to thank my
highschool friends who gave me some good
references for the discussion and conclusion
of my laboratory report.

REFERENCE:

[1] Padua, A., Practical and Explorational
Physics, 2003