Specific Heat of a Metal

[hatingphysics]

A metal container, which has a mass of 9.0 kg contains 17.6 kg of water. A 2.0-kg piece of the same metal, initially at a temperature of 200.0°C, is dropped into the water. The container and the water initially have a temperature of 15.1°C and the final temperature of the entire system is 17.1°C. Calculate the specific heat of the metal.

I used this equation but I still can't seem to get the right answer.....[C(metal)*Mass(container)*deltaT(container)] + [4186*Mass(water)*deltaT(water)] = Cmetal*Mass(peice)*deltaT(piece)

HELP PLEASE!!!:confused:

[moose]

Your equation seems correct. Just make sure your mass is in grams and that the specific heat of water that you use is about 4.2 (I noticed you forgot to put a decimal there...or was that a typo?).

If you write out your steps you took, maybe one of us can help determine where your error lies.

[sicjeff]

it's not a typo. He did not present us with his units. This is the specific heat of water in J/kg.