Intro to Calorimetry: Videos & Practice Problems

You are preparing water for dishwashing at home. You place 4.50 kg of water whose temperature is 8.0°C in an insulated pale. The desired final temperature of the water is 61°C. Determine the quantity of boiling water (100.0°C) that will heat the water to the desired temperature.

A blacksmith places a 390-gram iron horseshoe inside a tank that contains 5.0 liters of water at 298 K. A thermometer shows a fast increase in the water temperature, reaching a value of 301 K. Determine the original temperature in degrees Celsius and Fahrenheit of the horseshoe before it was immersed in water.

A 0.120-kg copper calorimeter cup containing 0.200 kg of oil and a 0.0250-kg plastic stirrer at 15.0°C has a 0.150-kg metal rod heated to 4.00 × 10² °C plunged into it. The final temperature of the system reaches 45.0 °C. Given that the specific heat of copper is 385 J/kg^.°C, the specific heat of the oil is 3540 J/kg^.°C, and the specific heat of the plastic stirrer is 1780 J/kg^.°C, determine the specific heat of the metal rod. Assume no oil evaporates.

A scientist extracts 220 grams of aluminum nuggets from a furnace heated to 400°C and quickly places them into 150 mL of water at 15°C within a thermally insulated container. Determine the resulting equilibrium temperature of the water after the aluminum nuggets are added.

An adventurer collects a 600 g sample of an enigmatic metal with an initial temperature of 8°C. The adventurer immerses the metal in a 120 g  copper vessel filled with 420 g of water at 95°C. After a while, the temperature of the water, metal, and vessel reaches equilibrium at 75°C. Identify the metal in the sample.

A geothermal power plant harnesses underground heat to generate 1450 MW (1450 MJ/s) of electric energy. During the process, 4110 MW of excess heat needs to be dissipated to maintain operational safety. To cool the system, the plant pumps water from a nearby river. When the water enters the cooling mechanism, it has an initial temperature of 20°C. To protect the local aquatic life, regulations state that the water temperature cannot exceed 35°C upon returning to the river. Calculate the flow rate of river water, in L/min, required to maintain the power plant's safe and efficient operation.

Determine the initial temperature of iron when 15 g of brass at 250°C and 25 g of iron are placed into 75 cm³ of isopropyl alcohol initially at 10°C. The mixture's temperature eventually stabilizes at 30°C. Consider the following specific heat capacities: iron 450 J/(kg•K), brass 380 J/(kg•K), isopropyl alcohol  2440 J/(kg•K); and a density of 786 kg/m³ for isopropyl alcohol.

The temperature of water in a Styrofoam cup increases from 30 °C to 33 °C when a 10 g cylinder of unknown metal at 430 °C is dropped in the water. The mass of the water is 250 g. The mass of the Styrofoam cup is 8.1 g, and its specific heat capacity is 1131 J/kg•K. Assume that the cup is a perfect thermal insulator. Calculate the specific heat capacity of the unknown metal (c_metal).

Suppose you mix 200 g of water at 80°C with 100 ml of ethanol at 20°C. What will be the final temperature of the mixture if the specific heat of water is 4.18 J/g°C and that of ethanol is 2.44 J/g°C? Assume that there is no heat loss to the surroundings and the ethanol does not evaporate. The density of ethanol is 789 kg/m³.

A student put 100 g of metal heated to 150 °C, in a 250 g copper calorimeter filled with 250 g of water. The initial temperature of the calorimeter and water is 30 °C. What would the final temperature (T_f) of the system be if the metal's specific heat capacity was 498 J/kg•°C? Assume that there is no heat transferred to the environment.

What is the primary purpose of calorimetry?

Which of the following best describes thermal equilibrium?

In a thermally isolated system, if a 100g piece of metal loses 500J of heat, how much heat is gained by the surrounding water?

What does the variable 'm' represent in the equation Q = mcΔT?

If a 50g piece of aluminum (c = 0.9 J/g°C) is heated to 100°C and placed in 200g of water at 20°C, what is the final equilibrium temperature?

In a calorimetry experiment, how can you simplify equations if the same substance is involved on both sides?

What is the final temperature if 300g of copper (c = 0.385 J/g°C) at 80°C is mixed with 500g of water at 20°C?

Which variable in the equation Q = mcΔT represents the change in temperature?

How can you generalize the equation for equilibrium temperature to accommodate multiple materials?

If two materials with equal specific heat capacities but different masses are mixed, which factor will have a greater influence on the final equilibrium temperature?