Toronto Collegiate Institute
SPH 3U1 Practical Examination
Specific Heat Capacity of TCI Tap Water

Date: 14th July 2014
Title: Specific Heat Capacity of water
Purpose: To find the specific heat capacity of TCI tap water
Hypothesis: I hypothesize that the specific heat capacity of water will be 4200 J/kg°C because water is known to have a high heat capacity
Apparatus:
* Top Pan Balance * Kettle * Alcohol Thermometer * Pencil * Paper * Water
Procedure:
1. Record the mass of the empty kettle 2. Fill kettle with water 3. Record the mass of kettle with water 4. Calculate mass of water 5. Turn on kettle and place thermometer in kettle 6. Record the temperature on the thermometer every 30 seconds until the temperature reaches 100°C

Readings:
PKettle = 1200W mKettle = .946kg mKettle and Water = 2.402kg mwater = 1.456kg

Theory: EH=mc∆T
The relationship between heat energy, the mass of the substance, the specific heat capacity of the substance and temperature can be expressed in the equation above.
The heat energy in joules required to heat a given substance to a certain temperature is equal to the mass of the substance heated multiplied by the value of the specific heat capacity of the substance multiplied by the difference between the initial temperature and the temperature of the substance after heating
In this lab, the energy used to heat the water is calculated from the power of the kettle. The mass of the water is recorded after weighing it, and the temperature is monitored throughout the experiment. This data is later used to find the specific heat capacity of water by rearranging the above formula to solve for the variable “c”
The variable “c’ denotes the specific heat capacity of a substance. “c” is measured in the units J/kg°C and is defined as the amount of energy required to heat 1kg of a