How to Find Final Temperature in a Calorimetry Copper Pot Problem?

[ziddy83]

Hey what's up,
I am stuck on the following problem.

a copper pot with mass of 0.5kg contains 0.170kg of water at a temperature of 20C. A 0.250kg block of iron at 85C is dropped into the pot. Find the final temperature assuming not heat loss.

Ok, so Here is what i was thinking about doing:

Qwater + Qiron + Qcopper = 0

i know the initial temperature of the system, 20C. i also know the temp of the Iron block. so...How do i find the final T? Q = mc(Delta T), the delta T part is where I am confused. How do i set up the equation so i can solve for Tfinal? Thanks for any help.

 

[Pyrrhus]

Your equation is set up correctly.

\Delta T = T_{final} - T_{initial}

Just use the idea of

m_{copper}c_{copper}(T_{final} - T_{initial copper}) + m_{water}c_{water}(T_{final} - T_{initial water}) + m_{iron}c_{iron}(T_{final} - T_{initial iron}) = 0

Use Distributive of product with respect to addition property, then factor the T final.

 

[ziddy83]

Sweet...thanks a lot man.