Calculating Heat Absorbed & Temperature Change of Rocks

[FTCC.student]

Homework Statement

Large beds of rock are used in some solar-heated homes to store heat. Assume that the specific heat of the rocks is 0.82 J/g-K. (a) Calculate the quantity of heat absorbed by 50.0 kg of rocks if their temperature increases by 12.0°C. (b) What temperature change would these rocks undergo if they emitted 450 kJ of heat?

Homework Equations

C_s=\frac{q}{m * ΔT}

The Attempt at a Solution

For part a, I have rearranged the formula to give me q=C_s X m X ΔT, and got an answer of 4.9*10⁵ J. Part B, however, all I could think to do was try and rearrange the equation again by solving for ΔT. Either I cannot figure out how to rearrange it (this is probably the case, I was never very good at that), or I am on the wrong track completely. Either way, I'm probably also over-thinking it.

Also, a question about forum rules, I am studying for a test that is tomorrow afternoon and will probably have several other questions tonight on a variety of subjects (such as ΔH, electron config, net ionic equations, concentrations of solutions/molarity etc). Am I allowed to create a new thread for each question or should I stick to this thread?

Thanks for the help.

 

[tiny-tim]

Hi FTCC.student!

(b) What temperature change would these rocks undergo if they emitted 450 kJ of heat?
…
Part B, however, all I could think to do was try and rearrange the equation again by solving for ΔT.

Should work.

Show us how far you got.

… Am I allowed to create a new thread for each question …

yes

quick! ​

 

[FTCC.student]

Well okay, this is what I got when I tried to solve for delta-T (I tried twice and did something wrong, I can't remember how to isolate it because it is in the denominator...) the -x- represents that variable being cancelled.


ΔT = \frac{C_s*m}{q}

Which gave me: ΔT=(0.82 J/g-K)(50.0g)/450kJ

That answer was far from correct. I also tried multiplying all my given variables, also far from correct :(

So what I'm really confused on here probably isn't the actual chemistry portion, just how to rearrange the dang formula

 

[haruspex]

ΔT = \frac{C_s*m}{q}

(Your LaTex was messed up because you used "_{" inside . That doesn&#039;t work. You have to use _ for subscript, ^ for superscript, etc.)<br /> Let&#039;s try that one step at a time:<br /> <div style="margin-left: 20px">C_s=\frac{q}{m * ΔT}&#8203;</div>Multiply both sides by ΔT<br /> <div style="margin-left: 20px">ΔT*C_s=\frac{q}{m}&#8203;</div>What next?}