Specific Heat Capacity RP1

Specific heat capacity = the amount of energy needed to raise the temperature of 1kg of a substance by 1 degree celsius.

Practical:

1. Set up a power supply, voltmeter, ammeter and immersion heater in series. Put the heater and a thermometer into the two holes in the metal block. Wrap the metal block with a thick layer of newspaper.
2. Measure the initial temperature of the block on the thermometer and record.
3. Turn the power supply on and start the stopwatch.
4. As the block heats up, take readings of the temperature, voltage and current every minute for ten minutes.
5. After ten minutes, turn off the power supply, stop the stopwatch and leave the apparatus for a minute to cool down.
6. Calculate the change in temperature for each reading and then use the specific heat capacity equation rearranged with c as the subject to calculate the specific heat capacity.

Random errors - some heat energy dissipates, joulemeter could be used to calculate energy directly, temperature must be read at eye level on the thermometer to reduce parallax error.

Systematic errors - make sure voltmeter and ammeter are initially set to zero to avoid zero error.