Understanding Specific Heat and Calorimetry: Experiment or Equation?

[misskitty]

Hi everyone,

Is a calorimetry an experiment or an equation? If its an experiment, what does it determind? If its an equation, what is it? My book doesn't distinguish what it is.

What is the equation for determining the specific heat capacity? Is it :
CiMiΔT=CfMfΔT

If there is anythig wrong with this please let me know so that I can work out these problems properly.

thanks, kitty

 

[MathStudent]

It's been a while since I've dealt with this, and I don't have a book with me... but I believe that "Calorimetry" is the study of heat/energy transfer in chemical systems. A "calorimeter" is a device used to measure the specific heat of a substance.

For the equation of specific heat we have:

$$Q = mc \Delta T$$

where Q is the heat added, m is the mass, c is the specific heat, and (delta)T is the change in temperature.
A nice way to remember this is to remeber the phrase "Q equals M cat" (which shouldn't bee hard for you considering your name is miss kitty )

if you want an equation explicitly for specific heat, solve for c.

regards,
-MS

 

[misskitty]

That shouldn't be too hard to remember. Thanks for the ackronym (sp?). That will be a huge help considering all the other equations I have to memorize. Thanks for the clarification.

Thanks, Kitty...glad you think my name is cute MS.

 

[MathStudent]

Acronym... That is the word I was looking for all day yesterday. I kept thinking it was Anagram. Thanx, you just saved me a weeks worth of frustration! and glad I could help :simle: