Heat and final temperature problem

AI Thread Summary
The problem involves calculating the final temperature of 290 g of coffee at 90.0°C after 1.50 g evaporates. The heat transfer due to evaporation must be considered, using the heat of vaporization and the specific heat of water. The correct approach involves setting up energy conservation equations, where the heat lost by the coffee equals the heat gained by the evaporated water. The final temperature is calculated to be approximately 87.2°C, confirming the importance of accounting for phase changes in thermal calculations. Understanding these principles is crucial for solving similar heat transfer problems.
narutoish
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Homework Statement



The "steam" above a freshly made cup of instant coffee is really water vapor droplets condensing after evaporating from the hot coffee. What is the final temperature of 290 g of hot coffee initially at 90.0°C if 1.50 g evaporates from it? The coffee is in a Styrofoam cup, and so other methods of heat transfer can be neglected. Assume that coffee has the same physical properties as water.

Homework Equations



Q = mcΔT that's the only equation that i saw fit, but i don't know how to utilize it in this situation

The Attempt at a Solution



the answer is 87.2

i tried writing two heat equations like (290g)(Tf- 900C) = (1.50)(100)
but i don't know if that's right. please point me in the right direction

thanks
 
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Some of the water is evaporated as a result of adding energy to the cup+water system. So you can think of energy Q = cmΔT entering the system, and the mass of water that evaporates carries Q' out of the system. Find what this Q' is and express the above mathematically.
 
What is the heat of vaporization of water in cal/gm? What is the heat capacity of liquid water in cal/(gm-C)? How much heat is required to evaporate 1.5 gm of water?

Chet
 
So I set the heat equation up like this Q = (1.50g)(4.184)(-10 0C ) and find Q to be -62.76.

Then I set that Q equal to the other heat equation like : -62.76 = (288.5g)(4.184)(Tf-90) but that gives me 89.9 , am I going in the right direction?
 
narutoish said:
So I set the heat equation up like this Q = (1.50g)(4.184)(-10 0C ) and find Q to be -62.76.

Then I set that Q equal to the other heat equation like : -62.76 = (288.5g)(4.184)(Tf-90) but that gives me 89.9 , am I going in the right direction?
No. Your first equation is wrong. You should be multiplying the 1.5 g by the heat of vaporization of water.

Chet
 
Thanks I got it now. But is reason I couldn't use the Q =mcT equation because of the phase change?

Thanks Chet
 
narutoish said:
Thanks I got it now. But is reason I couldn't use the Q =mcT equation because of the phase change?
Yes.
 
Hi Chestermiller,

I was just wondering about the physical reasoning for setting those two equations equal to each other. If we consider the cup+water as the system, then energy Q1(=cwmw(90-To) enters the system to get it to the temperature of 90 degrees C. The energy of the cup+water system is then conserved if there are no other heat transfers or work done upon it. So by conservation of energy, we have Q1 = cwm1(Tf-90) + m2Lv, where cw = specific heat of water, m1 = mass of water left in cup, m2 = mass evaporated and Lv = latent heat of vaporization.

The differential (wrt time) of the LHS is zero, so the differential of the RHS must be zero. How would I show from this that cwm1(Tf-90) = - m2Lv follows?

Thanks.
 
CAF123 said:
Hi Chestermiller,

I was just wondering about the physical reasoning for setting those two equations equal to each other. If we consider the cup+water as the system, then energy Q1(=cwmw(90-To) enters the system to get it to the temperature of 90 degrees C. The energy of the cup+water system is then conserved if there are no other heat transfers or work done upon it. So by conservation of energy, we have Q1 = cwm1(Tf-90) + m2Lv, where cw = specific heat of water, m1 = mass of water left in cup, m2 = mass evaporated and Lv = latent heat of vaporization.

The differential (wrt time) of the LHS is zero, so the differential of the RHS must be zero. How would I show from this that cwm1(Tf-90) = - m2Lv follows?

Thanks.

Hi CAF123. I think my understanding for the problem statement is different from yours. The problem statement says that the coffee starts off at 90C, and that the coffee cup is adiabatic: "The coffee is in a Styrofoam cup, and so other methods of heat transfer can be neglected."

So, what I get out of this is that Q = 0. So, cwm1(Tf-90) + m2Lv =0.

Hope this makes some sense.

Chet
 
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